For the season finale of "Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling," we're going behind the scenes.

Frantz Lohier, the first guest of Season 1, reverses roles to interview Stéphane Lagresle about how 30 episodes with automotive executives actually get made. This isn't about interviewing techniques or podcast equipment. It's about the systematic approach to understanding what makes great conversations work in a technical industry.

What You'll Learn:

The Four-Hour Formula
How to prepare for high-stakes conversations with executives you've never met, using AI tools, pre-interview calls, and strategic research to create authentic dialogue regardless of topic complexity.

The Validation Discovery
Why the podcast's original hypothesis was wrong: Stéphane assumed automotive executives were skeptical about storytelling. Every single guest proved otherwise, confirming that narrative is now critical for cutting through technical noise and winning business.

The Machinery Behind Authenticity
From Google Notebook LM for research synthesis to the intentional structure that balances technical credibility with human connection, here's the process that makes preparation look effortless.

The Honest Part
Stéphane also shares something uncomfortable: he almost didn't start this podcast. An inner voice (he calls it "Alfred") kept him from posting on LinkedIn for years. This episode is about what happened when he decided to ignore that voice, and what months of systematic content creation actually produces.

Why This Episode Matters:

If you're preparing for CES presentations, investor pitches, or OEM meetings in 2025, this episode offers a blueprint for the kind of preparation that creates memorable conversations. If you're a tier-one supplier wondering why OEMs can't remember your presentation, ask yourself if you have a story that will resonate with your audience.

Your technology might be brilliant. Your storytelling is what makes it memorable.

🎧 Season 1 complete. Season 2 coming soon.

#UnderTheHood #AutomotiveStorytelling #B2BMarketing #PodcastProduction

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" uncovers the human narratives driving innovation in an industry that impacts lives worldwide. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, this podcast explores how the power of storytelling ultimately connects technology to humans.

The debate is over. 2026 is SDV execution year.

At We.Conect's SDV Europe 2025 in Berlin, seven industry experts revealed a fundamental shift: the companies that win won't have the most features—they'll tell the most honest stories about strategic focus, security vigilance, and what software-defined vehicles really mean for drivers.

THE THREE SHIFTS DEFINING 2026:

🎯 From "More" to Strategic Focus
After years of feature accumulation, complexity has become unsustainable. Ola Svensson (Knowit): "Complexity must be reduced. Functionality is being taken away." Success in 2026 means mastering "subtractive storytelling": choosing 10 features that work flawlessly over 50 that create chaos. This is the differentiation customers will finally experience.

🤝 From Handoffs to Co-Integration
The relationship between OEMs and Tier1s keeps evolving. Michael Niklas (Aumovio) identified the real challenge: "fragmented tools, data inconsistencies, unclear ownership." Felix Pretscheck (Bosch) presented three collaboration scenarios, with "Co-Integrate" as the breakthrough: OEMs and suppliers integrating continuously through shared pipelines, compressing feedback from months to days.

🔒 From Building to Securing
Every connection you market is also a vulnerability. Gregor Knappik (VicOne): "So everything gets even more interconnected. And these are basically the biggest threats upcoming that we see and needs to be solved now." With vehicles connecting to smart homes and third-party services, security isn't a feature to hide—it's a trust-builder requiring radical transparency. GPS spoofing threats, public hacking competitions, and the convergence of safety (ISO 26262) with security (ISO 21434) demand a new narrative: continuous vigilance as strength, not admission of weakness.

PRACTICAL TAKEAWAYS:

• Reframe subtraction as vision: "We chose these 10 features because they matter" beats "We offer 50 because we can"
• Translate engineer-speak to human language: Replace "flexible feature deployment architecture" with "Your car gets better every month, like your phone"
• Launch co-integration partnerships now: Move beyond quarterly supplier deliveries to shared development infrastructure
• Build security transparency within 6 months: Proactive bug bounty programs before incidents force reactive crisis management

FEATURED EXPERTS:
Stefan Marxreiter (Avenga) • Ola Svensson (Knowit) • Mikhail Vink (JetBrains) • Michael Niklas (Aumovio) • Khaled Alomari (MHP) • Hans-Martin Ritt (MathWorks) • Gregor Knappik (VicOne)

The companies that master honest narratives—ambitious yet credible, innovative yet trustworthy—won't just win in 2026. They'll define automotive storytelling for the next decade.

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" uncovers the human narratives driving innovation in an industry that impacts lives worldwide. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, this podcast explores how the power of storytelling ultimately connects technology to humans.

🔗 THE COLLABORATION REVOLUTION DECODED

Twenty-eight companies. Three years. One unified data standard that BMW, Mercedes, and Volkswagen all agreed to. Thomas Rösch, CEO of Cofinity-X and Board Member of Catena-X, joins "Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" to unpack this unprecedented automotive collaboration.

🎯 KEY INSIGHTS

Centralized vs. Decentralized: The Trust Paradigm Shift

Thomas exposes automotive's "one-up, one-down" data sharing trap that creates supply chain opacity, then unveils Catena-X's data sovereignty solution—where companies retain ownership while enabling standardized peer-to-peer data exchange that builds industry-wide trust.

The Standardization Strategy of Seamless Integration

Discover how 28 companies achieved the impossible—three years of collaboration bringing a global data ecosystem to life that creates a trusted environment for cross-company collaboration and innovation. It enables: Sovereign data exchange between all automotive enterprises.Catena-X creates a foundation for a connected, resilient, and sustainable automotive industry, which Cofinity-X brings to life.

The Global Scaling of Data Ecosystems

Learn why data spaces are exploding beyond automotive into aerospace, chemicals, and construction, with Korea's government-funded rollout and 25+ Chinese company pilots proving that collaborative data infrastructure is becoming an essential industrial operating system.

💡 PRACTICAL TAKEAWAYS

• Audit Data Readiness Now: Regulatory requirements like battery passports and PCF reporting are non-negotiable—Catena-X allows standardized processes for the exchange of sustainability data with all your partners
  
• Choose Your Software Strategy: Select from 50+ certified marketplace applications and services or leverage open-source code—freedom from vendor lock-in while maintaining standards compliance saves costs and preserves agility.
  
• Join Readiness Programs: Leverage Catena-X's supplier-focused booster programs—the network effect only works with broad participation, and early adopters gain first-mover advantage in supply chain transparency.
  
• Explore Cross-Industry Opportunities: If you serve multiple sectors, one infrastructure works across automotive, aerospace, and industrial—ChemX, FactoryX, and AerospaceX are emerging with identical principles.
  

🌟 ABOUT YOUR GUIDE

Thomas Rösch brings 40+ years of automotive and IoT expertise, including nine years founding ZF's Openmatics telematics platform. After learning firsthand why centralized, single-company platforms fail to achieve industry adoption, he now leads dual roles: CEO of Cofinity-X (first Catena-X operator) and Catena-X Association Board Member, where his conviction that "belief and making it happen" is reshaping global automotive data collaboration.

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" uncovers the human narratives driving innovation in an industry that impacts lives worldwide. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, this podcast explores how the power of storytelling ultimately connects technology to humans.

How Many Slides Is Too Many? The Real Question Every Presenter Should Be Asking

Are you asking the wrong question about your presentations? In this Quick Fix episode of Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling, host Stéphane Lagresle reveals why "How many slides should I have?" is the wrong question, and what you should be asking instead.

THE PROBLEM:

You open PowerPoint. You start adding slide after slide. Before you know it, you've got 40 slides for a 20-minute presentation.

But here's the thing: you don't have a presentation. You have a pile of information with no story holding it together. Your audience is lost because information without story is just noise.

This is the slide dependency problem. Your slides have become your script instead of supporting your story.

THE FRAMEWORK:

Using a powerful movie analogy, Stéphane introduces The One Test and The One Rule, two simple frameworks that will transform how you build presentations:

THE ONE TEST: Can you tell your story without the slides? If a massive technical failure happened and you couldn't show any slides, could you still deliver a compelling narrative? If not, you have a slide dependency problem.

THE ONE RULE: Every slide must do two things: (1) Move your story forward, AND (2) Get your audience closer to the goal you've defined (using the Empathy Map from Quick Fix #1). If a slide doesn't do both, it doesn't belong in your deck.

YOU'LL LEARN:

→ Why the number of slides doesn't matter—the story does
→ How to break free from slide dependency and build narrative-driven presentations
→ The two-part test every slide must pass to earn its place in your deck
→ Why information without emotion doesn't create retention (and how to fix it)
→ Real client transformation: from 30+ slides to 15 slides—and winning the contract
→ When to use slides and when to "kill the slide" for maximum impact
→ How to apply the Empathy Map framework to presentation design

TACTICAL TAKEAWAY:

Stop asking "How many slides do I need?" Start asking "What story am I telling?"

THE PRINCIPLE: Information without emotion doesn't create retention. Learn how to create emotional moments around critical information so your audience actually remembers what matters.

Perfect for:

• Automotive sales and business development professionals
• B2B technology sales teams and account managers
• Product marketing and sales enablement leaders
• Startup founders and executives pitching investors
• Engineers and technical professionals presenting to non-technical audiences
• Anyone who presents complex solutions to customers

Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling is the premier podcast for automotive innovation leaders, revealing the human stories behind technological breakthroughs. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, Founder of The Storytelling Tribe and creator of the Automotive-Grade Storytelling™ methodology.

Connect: TheStorytellingTribe.com | LinkedIn: @SLagresle

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" uncovers the human narratives driving innovation in an industry that impacts lives worldwide. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, this podcast explores how the power of storytelling ultimately connects technology to humans.

🚗 FROM 5 YEARS TO 6 WEEKS: THE SDV REVOLUTION

When Mercedes-Benz's software team achieved in weeks what traditionally took years, they proved that having an entirely new approach to automotive's software can bring incredible results.

In this new episode of "Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" brought to you by The Storytelling Tribe, we sit down with Markus Rettstatt, Head of Software Defined Car Unit at Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation and Eclipse SDV Ambassador, to decode how a 130-year-old automotive giant is becoming a software company.

🎯 KEY INSIGHTS

The Cultural Earthquake: When Software Becomes the Product

Markus reveals the hardest part of Mercedes-Benz's transformation: convincing hardware-minded leaders that software isn't "instructions for hardware" anymore – it's the primary value layer. Discover why this shift demands new mental models about ownership, control, and what actually creates competitive advantage.

The Open Source Paradox: Why Mercedes Shares Code with Competitors

How can sharing diagnostic software with BMW, startups, and Chinese developers strengthen Mercedes' position? Markus explains the counterintuitive strategy behind OpenSOVD – and why reducing development cycles from years to weeks requires collaboration.

The Living Vehicle: Why Your 2025 Car Will Be Better in 2030

Software-defined vehicles don't depreciate like traditional cars – they improve. Learn how continuous updates are transforming the used car market, creating unprecedented value retention, and fundamentally changing what "buying a car" means for the next decade.

💡 PRACTICAL TAKEAWAYS

Lead with Why, Not What: Transformation fails when engineers start with technical details. Start with customer impact, then developer benefits, then business value – in that order. That's how you build momentum.

Prove It with Demos, Not Memos: Markus's team didn't write proposals about vertical integration – they built a working demo covering 80% of test cases in six weeks. Change comes from showing, not telling.

Use Neutral Foundations for Collaboration: Hosting projects through Eclipse Foundation eliminates legal barriers and enables global contribution – even with geopolitically sensitive markets.

Design for Hardware Independence: Build abstraction layers that separate software from chips. This enables market flexibility (different chips for different regions) and future-proofs vehicles for computing evolution.

🌟 MEET YOUR GUIDE

Markus Rettstatt has been writing automotive software since 1998 – back when "software" meant offline routing systems and the rotary knob for destination entry. Over 25+ years, he's co-developed FlexRay bus systems, architected Mercedes-Benz's cloud-native OTA infrastructure (reducing update cycles from one year to under three months), and now leads SDV and ADAS innovation at Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation, partnering with Chief Software Officer Magnus Östberg to drive transformation at enterprise scale.

His unique perspective? He's lived through the entire evolution from "software as hardware instructions" to "software as primary value layer" – and he's leading one of the industry's most ambitious transformations.

Listen now to discover the stories driving automotive's software revolution.

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" uncovers the human narratives driving innovation in an industry that impacts lives worldwide. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, this podcast explores how the power of storytelling ultimately connects technology to humans.

🚛 THE TRUCK CABIN REVOLUTION

In this new episode of "Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" from The Storytelling Tribe, we connect with Carolin Schütt, Lead CMF Design Manager at MAN Trucks and Buses, who brings along two decades of automotive design experience from BMW to commercial vehicles, to explore how storytelling transforms engineering into emotional experiences that drivers live with, not just operate.

🎯 KEY INSIGHTS

Passenger Cars vs. Trucks: The Empathy Gap

Carolin reveals how truck design requires a deep human connection – drivers don't just commute, they live in their cabs for days – and how storytelling bridges the gap between technical specifications and the reality of life on the road.

The Polygonized DNA Strategy

Discover how MAN transformed Bavaria's topography into a design language that spans interior, exterior, and digital services, creating a cohesive brand story that elevates CMF from styling to strategic storytelling.

From CMF to CME: Designing for All Senses

Learn how the industry shift from Color-Material-Finish to Color-Material-Experience represents the future of automotive design, where every surface tells a story and creates a holistic emotional journey for drivers.

💡 PRACTICAL TAKEAWAYS

• Brief with Context: When pitching, work with clear storytelling – save everyone's time and get better results
• Design as Theater: Create presentations that move people emotionally, not just inform them – if they remember one thing at day's end, make it yours
• Leverage Diverse Perspectives: Build teams with different genders, ages, and cultures – homogeneous teams produce limited, predictable outcomes
• Connect Engineering to Emotion: Use storytelling to translate technical requirements into visible customer value – specifications don't sell trucks, experiences do

🌟 ABOUT YOUR GUIDE

Carolin Schütt brings over 20 years of automotive design experience spanning BMW's luxury passenger cars, Faurecia's supplier perspective, and now leading CMF design for MAN's complete truck range. Her work has earned multiple IF Design Awards and Red Dot Design Awards for models including the TGX and MAN eTruck prototype. As a corporate influencer with over 8,000 LinkedIn followers, she champions female empowerment in automotive while transforming truck cabs into "mobility tiny houses" where drivers truly live.

Follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinschuett/

Ready to discover the stories behind the steering wheel? #UnderTheHood #AutomotiveStorytelling #TruckDesign #CMFDesign #WomenInAutomotive

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" – Where technology meets narrative, and mobility's future is told through visionary voices.

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" uncovers the human narratives driving innovation in an industry that impacts lives worldwide. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, this podcast explores how the power of storytelling ultimately connects technology to humans.

🎮 WHEN STORYTELLING MEETS GAMING & AUTOMOTIVE

In this captivating episode of "Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" brought to you by The Storytelling Tribe, we sit down with Anthony Cliquot, CEO of AirConsole, to explore how listening first became the foundation for transforming vehicles into social entertainment hubs and building partnerships with BMW, Porsche, Volkswagen, and Audi.

🎯 KEY INSIGHTS

Tech Meets Tradition: The Cultural Bridge

Anthony reveals how he convinced traditional automotive engineers to embrace gaming by telling a universal story about childhood car games – creating emotional resonance across procurement, engineering, and product teams in Japan, Germany, the US, and France.

The Experience-First Strategy

Discover how AirConsole solved the in-car gaming challenge by treating the car as a unique device rather than an "iPad on wheels" – integrating smartphones as controllers, leveraging immersive sound, and even syncing ambient lighting with gameplay to create memories, not just features.

The Autonomous Future: Passengers Over Drivers

Learn why the shift from driver-centric to passenger-centric experiences will redefine brand differentiation in the next decade, and how OEMs can own their entertainment ecosystem before big tech companies dominate their screens.

💡 PRACTICAL TAKEAWAYS

• Listen Before You Pitch: Understand what your audience wants AND needs to hear before crafting your narrative – AirConsole's automotive pivot succeeded because OEMs told them the story first
• Lead With Emotion, Not Features: Create consistent stories about memories and experiences that resonate universally rather than drowning stakeholders in technical specifications
• Solve Experience, Not Technology: Build seamless user experiences that feel effortless – the hardest problems to solve become your most valuable differentiators
• Think Beyond Your Industry: When multiple customers from a new vertical knock on your door with the same story, listen deeply and evaluate the pull versus push dynamic

🌟 ABOUT YOUR GUIDE

Anthony Cliquot brings experience spanning financial services, consumer tech, and automotive innovation. Starting at Credit Suisse where he pioneered big data projects for ultra-high-net-worth individuals, he became a serial entrepreneur founding companies including Autodrop before leading AirConsole's remarkable pivot into the automotive industry. As CEO of AirConsole, he secured partnerships with BMW (launching in 18 months – "one of the fastest products we've launched"), Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche, while partnering with gaming giants like Mattel (Uno) and Hot Wheels. His passion lies in creating meaningful experiences that turn technology into stories people remember.

Ready to discover the stories behind the steering wheel?
#UnderTheHood #AutomotiveStorytelling #InCarGaming #AirConsole #AutomotiveInnovation #SDV #CustomerExperience #B2BStorytelling

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" – Where technology meets narrative, and mobility's future is told through visionary voices.

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" uncovers the human narratives driving innovation in an industry that impacts lives worldwide. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, this podcast explores how the power of storytelling ultimately connects technology to humans.

Escaping PowerPoint Jail: Why Your 45-Slide Customer Deck Is Costing You Deals

Are your sales presentations working against you? In this Quick Fix episode of Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling, host Stéphane Lagresle reveals why automotive suppliers and technology companies are losing millions in opportunities, not despite their preparation, but because of it.

THE PROBLEM: You've seen it happen. A customer blocks out 60 minutes. Your team spends weeks preparing a comprehensive 45-slide deck covering every technical specification, every capability, every certification. But 15 minutes in, you watch engagement evaporate: phone checking, email responding, eyes glazing over. Yet you keep clicking forward because "we spent three weeks building this deck."

This is PowerPoint Jail—when preparation time becomes a psychological prison that prevents you from actually connecting with customers.

THE FRAMEWORK: Drawing on neuroscience research from John Medina and TED curator Chris Anderson, Stéphane introduces The 18-Minute Rule: a discipline that forces brutal prioritization and transforms customer presentations from monologues into meaningful dialogues.

YOU'LL LEARN:

→ Why the sunk cost fallacy destroys B2B sales conversations
→ The Stopwatch Challenge: A practical test for your next customer deck
→ Why shorter presentations lead to longer, richer customer conversations
→ How to prioritize what customers need to hear vs. what you want to tell them

TACTICAL TAKEAWAY:

Stop measuring success by deck completion rate. Start measuring it by customer engagement and business outcomes. Learn exactly how to build narrative-driven presentations where every slide earns its place—and nothing can be skipped.

Perfect for:

• Automotive sales and business development professionals
• B2B technology sales teams
• Supplier account managers
• Product marketing and sales enablement leaders
• Anyone who presents complex technical solutions to customers

Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling is the premier podcast for automotive innovation leaders, revealing the human stories behind technological breakthroughs. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, Founder of The Storytelling Tribe and creator of the Automotive-Grade Storytelling™ methodology.

"Under the Hood: Automotive Storytelling" uncovers the human narratives driving innovation in an industry that impacts lives worldwide. Hosted by Stéphane Lagresle, this podcast explores how the power of storytelling ultimately connects technology to humans.