MotoManTV Podcast

How does a young engineer from the Greek island of Crete go from selling buses to leading Mercedes-Benz in America?

Dimitris Psillakis never mapped out the career that followed. He joined Mercedes-Benz through an international management-trainee program, took responsibility for a small bus division in Greece and then accepted a series of increasingly complex assignments across four continents.

Along the way, he oversaw operations across 29 Latin American countries, helped establish a Mercedes-Benz factory in Brazil, encountered customers armoring everything from C-Classes to Smart cars, navigated the cultural and business challenges of South Korea and ultimately arrived in the United States during the height of the pandemic.

In this episode, Dimitris shares how curiosity, adaptability, discipline and resilience shaped his rise—and why he believes the best careers are built by focusing on the next decision rather than trying to plan the next 20 years.

A production note: This is one of our final vault episodes, recorded before we upgraded to our current camera equipment. The picture quality may look different, but the audio, post-production and storytelling remain the same.

What do you think matters most when building a truly global career: ambition, adaptability or resilience? Share your thoughts in the comments.

CHAPTERS
00:00 One of Our Final Vault Episodes
01:07 From Crete to a Global Career
02:44 Studying in Britain—and Buying a Renault 5 Turbo
04:33 Military Service and a Multinational Dream
05:40 Joining Mercedes-Benz
07:14 His First Leadership Role: Buses
09:26 The Importance of Discipline and Resilience
10:54 Growing Mercedes-Benz in Greece
11:18 Why Mercedes Sent Him to Brazil
14:05 Managing 29 Countries
15:49 Reinventing Mercedes-Benz in Brazil
17:09 Building a Factory—and Armoring Smart Cars
20:16 The Move From Brazil to South Korea
23:03 His Greatest Cultural Challenge
25:42 Making Korea a Top Mercedes-Benz Market
27:30 The Move to Canada
28:50 Arriving in America During COVID
30:27 The Challenge of Running Mercedes in the US
32:05 What Four Continents Taught Him
33:06 His Best Career Advice
34:15 The Best Places He Lived
35:01 The Future of Mercedes-Benz

#MercedesBenz #DimitrisPsillakis #Leadership #AutomotiveIndustry #CareerAdvice #GlobalBusiness #MotoManPodcast
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Slate is promising a $25,000 electric truck with no traditional trim levels, no sprawling options list and a radically different approach to personalization. But can that idea survive contact with manufacturing, service and the realities of launching a new car company?
CJ Waelti joins the MotoMan Podcast to explain why the electric powertrain may be the least interesting part of Slate. Drawing on a career that has taken him from Harley-Davidson to Tesla, Rivian and now Slate, CJ lays out how the company is combining old-school mechanical expression with modern manufacturing.
We dig into Slate’s blank-canvas philosophy, the risk that personalization becomes an expensive upsell, its DIY accessory strategy, removable seat covers, swappable body panels, simplified vehicle wraps and the company’s plan to begin delivering trucks in late 2026.
More importantly, CJ answers the question hanging over every automotive startup: Why should anyone believe Slate can actually deliver?

Chapters
00:00 Why Slate may be different
01:45 CJ Waelti joins the podcast
02:23 From Harley-Davidson to Tesla
04:26 Why CJ believes in Slate
06:31 The EV may be the least interesting part
07:46 No options, no trims
09:09 Can personalization work on a $25K truck?
10:31 Avoiding the upsell trap
11:12 Removable seats and swappable accessories
12:17 Why affordability is the real message
14:36 Bringing DIY back to the automobile
16:42 Can Slate reconnect young people with cars?
18:56 Have automakers gone too far with screens?
20:30 How Slate plans to handle service
21:45 Designing accessories for DIY installation
24:17 How Slate made wrapping a car easier
27:37 Three reasons Slate will deliver in 2026
28:36 What should Slate build next?

#SlateAuto #ElectricTruck #ElectricVehicles #EVStartup #AutomotiveIndustry #CarPodcast #MotoManPodcast #MadeInAmerica #Tesla #Rivian
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Chris Benjamin’s path to the top of automotive design was anything but straightforward.
Long before becoming Chief Design Officer at Scout Motors, Benjamin arrived at design school unable to properly draw a car in three dimensions, learned a painful lesson after being labeled “unreliable,” and eventually landed what looked like a dream job at Mercedes-Benz. There was just one problem: he was so deep in debt that he spent his days designing Mercedes and his nights working a full-time shift at Taco Bell—sometimes surviving on barely three hours of sleep.
That experience helped shape a career that would span Mercedes-Benz, BMW Designworks, Volvo and Stellantis. Benjamin explains how a last-minute design proposal changed his trajectory at Mercedes, how he helped establish the proportions that would define a new generation of Volvos, and how his luxury-car experience influenced the transformation of Jeep interiors in vehicles like the Grand Cherokee and Grand Wagoneer.
Then came an entirely different challenge: bringing Scout back.
Recorded before the new Scout vehicles were revealed, this conversation explores what attracted Benjamin to the dormant American nameplate, what made the original Scout different from Jeep and Bronco, and why he believes reviving an icon requires understanding more than its styling cues.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Mercedes by day, Taco Bell by night
02:27 How a childhood obsession with cars began
11:16 Discovering design could become a career
15:54 Three weeks from Miami to design school in Detroit
20:33 Learning the unwritten realities of car design
24:08 Being labeled “unreliable”
29:44 Working three jobs just to stay in school
31:01 Starting his career at Mercedes-Benz
35:14 The secret Taco Bell night shift
40:13 The Mercedes boss who changed his life
42:18 Breaking through as a Mercedes designer
47:31 Moving to Volvo—and getting a design into production
49:05 How Volvo changed after Ford
53:22 Joining Chrysler and Stellantis
56:21 Transforming Jeep interiors
58:37 What actually makes an interior feel expensive
59:26 Fighting for better Grand Cherokee and Grand Wagoneer interiors
01:02:47 The renegade culture inside Chrysler
01:10:08 Why he left for Scout Motors
01:11:49 Was the original Scout really first?
01:13:54 The vision for bringing Scout back
01:19:09 What design elements should survive
01:20:50 Why good design isn’t always free
#ChrisBenjamin #MercedesBenz #ScoutMotors #Jeep #Volvo #CarDesign #AutomotiveDesign #MotoManTV #MotoManPodcast
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What will car collectors want when today’s roads are filled with electric, autonomous computers on wheels? According to Tommy Mica of TFLcar, the answer may be the exact opposite of a Tesla Model Y.
In this very different MotoMan podcast episode, Tommy makes the case for the strange, tactile and overlooked cars hiding in plain sight. They discuss why analog experiences are returning, what actually makes a car collectible and which affordable cars could be tomorrow’s classics—from Land Rover LR3s and Pontiac Fieros to early Aston Martin V8 Vantages, forgotten Cadillacs, 1990s GM performance cars and manual V8 muscle.
Before they get there, MotoMan reveals how his nearly new Porsche accumulated an astonishing $46,000 in warranty work—including an $11,000 headlight—and Tommy explains the difference between a car being reliable, fixable or simply defended by a very loyal owner.
They also get into subscription fatigue, modern-car complexity, the psychology behind collector values, Tommy’s unusual personal fleet and the lessons that helped TFL grow into one of YouTube’s largest automotive brands.
Which overlooked car do you believe will become the next major collectible?
CHAPTERS
00:00 The Opposite of a Tesla01:45 Tommy Mica Has a Problem03:28 $46,000 in Porsche Warranty Work05:11 The $11,000 Porsche Headlight07:37 Cars You Should Never Own Past Warranty10:07 Maintenance vs. Reliability13:08 Are Modern Cars Built to Last?16:18 Reliable or Just Easy to Fix?17:16 Tommy’s Unusual Car Collection18:26 The Land Rover That May Become Collectible19:43 Will People Really Stop Buying New Cars?21:17 Tommy’s Aston Martin Insurance Problem22:41 Drag Racing the CEO of Hagerty24:14 What Makes a Car Collectible?28:52 Why Analog Cars Are Coming Back30:44 The Split Between Analog and Digital32:53 People Are Tired of Computers on Wheels34:26 The Next Underappreciated Classics35:34 Cheap Bentleys, Phantoms and V12 Luxury38:13 Should We Buy a Bentley Mulsanne?39:02 Forgotten SUVs and Trucks41:56 Will Pontiac Fiero Values Keep Rising?44:01 The Overlooked Cars of 1990s GM46:49 Why Manual Cars Will Matter48:24 The $33,000 Aston Martin Bargain50:37 The Business Case for Giving Buyers What They Want52:49 Building the Anti-Tesla Collector Car54:02 How Tommy Helped Transform TFL55:48 Tommy’s Rules for Growing on YouTube

#TommyMica #TFLcar #MotoManPodcast #ClassicCars #FutureClassics #CollectorCars #AnalogCars #CarCulture #Porsche #Tesla
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Slate Auto has been described as a Jeff Bezos-backed EV startup building a $25,000 electric truck — but that is only part of the story.
In this episode of the MotoMan Podcast, we sit down with Rod Copes, Slate Auto board director and employee number one, to discuss the real strategy behind Slate: radical simplicity, American manufacturing, affordability, and avoiding the mistakes that crushed so many EV startups.
Rod explains what he learned from Harley-Davidson, Royal Enfield, and Rivian, including what “production hell” really means and why Slate is deliberately doing less on purpose. The conversation goes deep into the $24,950 price promise, why Slate chose a two-door pickup layout, how the company plans to build in Indiana, and why the future of affordable transportation may depend on bringing manufacturing back to the United States.
This is not just a conversation about a cheap EV truck. It is a conversation about whether America can still build things people can actually afford.
Chapters:
00:00 Highlight Open01:48 Why Rod Copes Matters To Slate02:44 Harley-Davidson, Royal Enfield & Rivian05:08 Rebuild Manufacturing & MIT08:46 Why US Manufacturing Matters11:24 What Changed After The Pandemic12:30 Why Time Beats Cash In Startups14:13 Can Slate Really Launch In 2026?16:44 Simplify, Simplify, Simplify18:03 The Risk Slate Is Taking19:32 The Bezos / Amazon Influence22:06 Slate’s Culture & Decision Making23:10 What Production Hell Really Means27:01 The Rivian Lesson Slate Learned29:37 Avoiding The EV Startup Trap31:08 How Slate Plans To Be Profitable33:19 Ford, Competition & The $25K Promise34:06 Why Car Pricing Feels Deceptive37:35 Making A Cheap Car Desirable39:16 Who Is Slate Really For?42:19 Could Slate Work For Apartment Dwellers?44:28 Why Slate Chose Two Doors47:30 The Battery Supply Challenge50:02 Why Slate Had To Be Electric55:30 Why Indiana?58:29 Could Slate Have Built It Cheaper Overseas?59:34 The US Manufacturing Renaissance01:02:09 What Slate Wants To Know From Viewers
#SlateAuto #SlateTruck #RodCopes #MotoManPodcast #JeffBezos #ElectricTruck #EVTruck #AmericanManufacturing #MadeInUSA #Rivian #FordMaverick #AffordableCars #EVStartup #Manufacturing #CarIndustry #ElectricVehicles #MotoManTV
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