Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Connectivity is the new horsepower. In Episode 258 of Cars and Culture with Jason Stein, we welcome back Vinay Shahani — now Senior Vice President of Marketing and Planning at AT&T — for a rare conversation from someone who's had a front-row seat to the transformation of two industries.
After 30 years in automotive (Toyota, Lexus, Nissan, Infiniti, Volkswagen), Vinay made the leap to telecom. Nine months in, he breaks down why the software-defined vehicle is changing everything, why "connectivity is the new frontier for competition," and how the lines between cars and tech are disappearing fast.
Jason and Vinay get into the AT&T–Oracle Red Bull Racing partnership (and how 600+ GB of live data travels from the car to Milton Keynes to win races), the real EV vs. hybrid story, who actually owns the connected-car customer relationship, how LLMs are reshaping the in-car experience, and what every automotive CEO still underestimates about connectivity.
Plus: the AT&T Guarantee, the return of Apple CarPlay as a make-or-break buying factor, and a look inside the Shahani family garage (Lexus, Nissan, BMW, Porsche).
🎧 Subscribe for more conversations with the people shaping the future of the auto industry.
Chapters
00:00 – Intro
02:50 – Pivoting to AT&T after 30 years in automotive
08:11 – Marketing, retention & the battle against churn
15:42 – The AT&T Guarantee: competing on reliability
19:35 – Inside the Oracle Red Bull Racing partnership
24:37 – Disruption, EVs vs. hybrids & the fiber future
30:21 – Who owns the connected-car customer?
35:54 – Advice to CEOs: connectivity over horsepower?
40:16 – The Shahani family fleet & the chaos in auto
Guest: Vinay Shahani, SVP of Marketing and Planning, AT&T
Host: Jason Stein
#CarsAndCulture #ConnectedCars #AT&T #Automotive #SoftwareDefinedVehicle #Formula1 #OracleRedBullRacing #EVs #AutoIndustry #JasonStein #CarTech #FutureOfMobility
Connectivity is the new horsepower. In Episode 258 of Cars and Culture with Jason Stein, we welcome back Vinay Shahani — now Senior Vice President of Marketing and Planning at AT&T — for a rare conversation from someone who's had a front-row seat to the transformation of two industries.
After 30 years in automotive (Toyota, Lexus, Nissan, Infiniti, Volkswagen), Vinay made the leap to telecom. Nine months in, he breaks down why the software-defined vehicle is changing everything, why "connectivity is the new frontier for competition," and how the lines between cars and tech are disappearing fast.
Jason and Vinay get into the AT&T–Oracle Red Bull Racing partnership (and how 600+ GB of live data travels from the car to Milton Keynes to win races), the real EV vs. hybrid story, who actually owns the connected-car customer relationship, how LLMs are reshaping the in-car experience, and what every automotive CEO still underestimates about connectivity.
Plus: the AT&T Guarantee, the return of Apple CarPlay as a make-or-break buying factor, and a look inside the Shahani family garage (Lexus, Nissan, BMW, Porsche).
🎧 Subscribe for more conversations with the people shaping the future of the auto industry.
Chapters
00:00 – Intro
02:50 – Pivoting to AT&T after 30 years in automotive
08:11 – Marketing, retention & the battle against churn
15:42 – The AT&T Guarantee: competing on reliability
19:35 – Inside the Oracle Red Bull Racing partnership
24:37 – Disruption, EVs vs. hybrids & the fiber future
30:21 – Who owns the connected-car customer?
35:54 – Advice to CEOs: connectivity over horsepower?
40:16 – The Shahani family fleet & the chaos in auto
Guest: Vinay Shahani, SVP of Marketing and Planning, AT&T
Host: Jason Stein
#CarsAndCulture #ConnectedCars #AT&T #Automotive #SoftwareDefinedVehicle #Formula1 #OracleRedBullRacing #EVs #AutoIndustry #JasonStein #CarTech #FutureOfMobility
