Detroit Free Press Breakfast Club with Mark Reuss and Roger Penske

Take a chance. When I make this only one. It's true. Without the feeling in my heart. The feeling in my heart. Always keeping our love inside. Cuz when we're too afraid to say we have live in a place we call regret and we haven't found a way yet. We got to get there somehow. We got to get there somehow. We got to get there somehow. We got to get there somehow. The feel where you don't talking through a door that's closed. I want to say the words that no one knows.

We invite you to take your seats and silence your mobile devices. The program will begin momentarily.

We got to get there somehow. We got to get there somehow. We got to get there somehow. We got to get there somehow. Got to get there somehow. We got to get there somehow. Got to get there somehow. We got to get this somehow. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Please welcome Detroit Free Press columnist and host CBS Detroit Michigan Matters, Carol Kaine.

Wow, it's early. Good morning and welcome to the inaugural breakfast club event of the 2026 season. I'm Carol Kaine from the Free Press and CBS Michigan Matters. Again, it's my honor to be with you here this morning. I'm so glad to see you all here bright and early and I want to give a shout out to those watching us during live streaming with the Free Press. Great to have everybody here with us. Because I see there are some newbies in the room. Quick explainer about this event. It was launched, the Breakfast Club series was launched in 2018 with the goal of putting attention on critical issues impacting our region, state, and beyond. And we've had some exceptional speakers during this time, including billionaire entrepreneur Dan Gilbert, Bill Ford, US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, and the list goes on and on. That tradition continues today with two titans of business and motorsports: Roger Penske and Mark Reuss. We're making history as well today as GM is rolling out the welcome mat for its new global world headquarters inside this beautiful new Hudson's building. And if that's not enough, we're doing so as we kick off the Detroit Auto Show week. It's really a distinct honor and privilege that Roger and Mark both agreed to be part of this conversation. And I know everybody in this room was looking forward to it. In fact, I know that because tickets for this thing sold boom, lickety split. Listen, Taylor Swift tickets didn't sell as fast as went for this. It's a distinct honor again to have them here. And these two men have been in the thick of the Motor City from business standpoint, from community events and philanthropic. They're busy both overseeing billion-dollar global companies based in Detroit. But their imprint is in the community, including many things they're involved with, but including bringing the 2006 Super Bowl to Detroit, which those of us here remember, and returning the Grand Prix to Detroit. Dan Gilbert, who built this incredible building and peered previously at the Breakfast Club, said it best to me when I asked him about these two gentlemen. He said, and this is a quote, 'Roger and Mark are tireless advocates for Detroit, ensuring that the city remains the engine that drives America. Roger always shows up, bets big, and delivers. Mark, as president of GM, has evolved Detroit's manufacturing heritage into today's technology-driven world.' Roger was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, which a lot of people here are probably surprised by thinking he was born in Detroit, but he came here decades ago and the Motor City has benefited over and over again. Mark has been president of GM since 2019 working alongside Mary Barra. He grew up in Metro Detroit, started his career as an intern and never looked back. He leads GM strategic initiatives for the company with his vast array of vehicles. Born in Detroit, he's committed to revitalizing our region through his service to education, community, and philanthropic organizations. But you know, we're going to have a couple speakers, we'll hear quickly, and I want to bring up Nicole Avery Nichols, who is the fearless editor and vice president of the Detroit Free Press. Just say a few words. Nicole, here we go.

Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Welcome and happy new year. As the editor and president of the Detroit Free Press, it is an honor to welcome you to this edition of the Breakfast Club. We are so fortunate that we get to kick off auto show week in conversation with General Motors President Mark Reuss and Roger Penske, chairman of Penske Corporation. You can clap for that. Thank you for that. Both leaders and innovators in the space of autos, motorsports, and what is possible when passionate people conspire together. Looking forward to hearing from both of them. And let's just give it up for General Motors in this location. The new Hudson's building. Yes. As local journalists, we've told the story of this legendary location many times, and it truly is a privilege to just be a small part of the next chapter. They just moved in yesterday, so this is really exciting. Thanks to all of you for attending and also thanks to our sponsors for helping us keep the conversation going. These are very important. Now, it wouldn't be a breakfast club if I didn't remind you of the importance of local media and a free and committed press. Please know that we at the Free Press are passionate about our work as storytellers and we are aware of our responsibility to the communities that we serve. We at the Free Press will remain ever on guard for as long as you will have us. Please, if you have not done so, subscribe to the Detroit Free Press so you can read special sections like this one on this building that ran in the Sunday newspaper and always online at freep.com. This section was created by our autos team. Autos team, raise your hand over there in the corner. Let's give them a little love. Hardworking local journalists. Once again, we know I've talked to many of you at the reception. Many of you are amazing readers and thank you for your support and encouragement. And welcome once again to Breakfast Club.

Thank you. You know, anyone that puts on these events knows you need a special group to help bring it together. And we're so blessed to have an all-star team at the USA Today network team: Aaron Velhovven, Amy Rosner, Marcy Vicelli, and Kristen Ore. And we'd also like to thank Tara Kumman and the rest of the incredible GM team, and Bedrock for their support of today's event. So, round of applause for them. Okay, this is housekeeping pays the bills here. We need to give a shout out to our loyal breakfast club sponsors who make this all possible. So, I'm going to list them. Hold your applause till the end. The co-presenting sponsor, PNC Bank, Lawrence Tech, Detroit Auto Dealers Association, the Detroit Auto Show, and Henry Ford Health. The diamond sponsors, Penske Corporation, GM, Platinum sponsor, Lear, and Ford. Silver sponsors, Visit Detroit, Downtown Detroit Partnership, AAA, HAP, Flagstar Bank, Barton, Malow, Deloitte, LeBron Sponsor, Detroit Regional Chamber, Hollywood Casino, Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Delta Dental, Business Leaders for Michigan, Walsh College, and again a special shout out to Bedrock for giving us complimentary valet parking. They sponsored it. So, please round of applause. And right now, I'd like to bring up Mike Bickers, who is president of PNC Bank in Detroit Southeast. He's also one of our presenting sponsors to say a few words. Mike knows autos like no other non-auto executive in town. I am not kidding you about that. I've been to the auto show when I've seen him talking to, I won't say which company, but the CEO of a company, and even the CEO is looking like, who is this guy? He knew so much about it. So, Mike Bickers, come on up.

Good morning and thank you for joining. On behalf of PNC, I'd like to thank Carol and Roger and Mark for making time for us today. It's so exciting to have them both so early in the year. The strength and commitment these two gentlemen have brought to our region has been nothing short of extraordinary and quite frankly, in my view, necessary. You and your organizations are key reasons that we all live, work so proud to do so, and participate in the growth of this region. With so much opportunity in front of us, PNC's commitment is to do all it can to turn those opportunities into reality such that the community benefits in a meaningful way which matters to the children and the families that we care about. Thank you and enjoy.

Well, that was good. So, Mike, question for you. So, I asked Mike, who follows us closely, how do you think that Mark and Mary are doing in the overall scheme of things with EVs and everything else going on, and he was so affirming. And sponsor, and I'd like to ask LTU president Dr. T. K. Soul to the stage. And as showing we have incredible universities and colleges in our region here. He's heading from here right to Florida to attend a meeting of the Association of Independent Technology Universities where he's being inaugurated as president of this organization. It's a prestigious organization that includes 15, just 15 private universities including MIT, Caltech, and others. So President Soul, please come to the stage.

Thank you so much Carol and thanks to the Free Press for the invitation. It's been very exciting times in the city of Detroit and I think in many ways the history and the future of Lawrence Technological University is so tightly linked to the city of Detroit in many ways since our inception 90... 40 years ago. We started as an engineering school for 500 students roughly again 90... 40 years ago and we've grown to one of 13 technological comprehensive doctoral and independent universities in the US. The range of programming and the difference we make in our student lives is dramatic. We graduate about 1,500 students every year and we enjoy 100% employment within 3 months of graduation which is a wonderful thing. Our emphasis has always been on workforce development and professional programming now not only in engineering but in engineering and business and architecture and design and as of recent health sciences. It's been a great year for Lawrence Tech actually. We were actually number one in terms of starting salaries for recent graduates amongst all private and public universities in the state of Michigan which is something we are incredibly proud of. We'd like to thank many colleagues in this room for their amazing support of our students and for their support of our scholarships program. On May 16th in this room we will have our annual fundraising gala. Last year that gala was actually held at the station and we were able to raise approximately $4 million that supported 80 students who would never have been able to attend Lawrence Tech. I can go forever and Carol is going to kill me. I'm a professor by trade. I can speak for three hours and I'm not going to do that. Thank you again and have a great rest of the day.

And you know LTU is a wonderful program. They have many things there. Read my Detroit Free Press column. I wrote it's online as Nicole says you can read it there, right?

Absolutely.

Was that accurate?

Absolutely.

Okay. I can't say any more than that. I can't say anything else. All righty. Thank you so much. And Todd Zatz is a person many of you in the room know. He's an auto dealer and he has been very involved with the Detroit Auto Dealers Association. He is chairman in fact of the 2026 Detroit Auto Show. They too are presenting sponsor of our event. But he has a very unique connection to today's panel. So, I'm gonna let him tell the tale. Todd.

Good morning. I am really honored to be here at this important event on this historic day as GM opens up this new beautiful headquarters building. I'm also very excited, as Carol said, because I have a long connection to GM and to one of today's speakers, Roger Penske. Over 50 years ago, when I was just a kid, I first met Roger as he opened his new Chevrolet dealership in Southfield. Growing up, I was surrounded by Chevrolets. And to this day, even though I don't sell them, I still love Camaros and Corvettes. Roger Penske had just hired my father as a parts manager at his new dealership, Penske Chevrolet. He later inspired my father, telling him that he had what it took to become a potential automobile dealer. That inspiration led my father to launch our family dealership business and which ultimately brings me here today. And I thank Roger for that. It's a privilege to represent the Detroit Auto Show as its 2026 chair and our 285 automobile dealers in our Detroit Auto Dealers Association. We're excited to support such a great event and start an exceptionally exciting, incredible week here in the Motor City. I hope all of you get a chance to go down to Huntington Place and see the show. Thank you.

Great job. Thank you, Todd. And our final presenting sponsor, Henry Ford Health. They're doing some incredibly big things here in the Motor City, too, tied to innovation and medical innovation. And Denise Brooks Williams is here to share a few thoughts on that. Denise.

Good morning and thank you, Carol. So, I am excited to be here from Henry Ford Health. We have our table of leaders there. And we, as you know, are doing a lot of big things in the New Center area. Anybody drive down the Lodge recently? Yeah. Yes, you can give that a round of applause. We call the project that you're seeing the future of health and it really does represent billions of dollars of investment in the New Center area, but we know that it's going to resonate throughout the region. And so we too are very excited about the launch today. What it means to have our auto show, what it means to be in this beautiful new GM building. And what you see unfolding quite honestly in front of you is a new state-of-the-art hospital that'll have all private rooms, new emergency department, new surgical suites, technology really that we can't even technically imagine at this point. We also have our partnership with Michigan State. So you see the research building, that's the beautiful glass lit building that you see. Yes, go blue. Go white. Okay. But it is our research institute where we're extremely excited about the innovations that are going to be brought into the community with our partnership with Michigan State. I had to do that as a Wolverine. But in addition to that, we also have the Nick Gilbert New Fire Mattosis Center that's in there, our institute, which will also be a great place of learning. Partnering really has been the foundation of the future of health. And so, the Detroit Pistons are another partner that I'd like to name because they're going to bring housing. So, we really are creating a live, work, play environment in the New Center area. And we thank a lot of you. So, one of my colleagues who came before me talked about their big fundraiser. I was looking at our philanthropy team. I said 4 million. So do know those billions still have capacity for you to participate and partner with Henry Ford Health if you would like. Philanthropy has been a huge contributor to the project in all seriousness and many of you in this room have supported us in getting to this point. So we're excited to be at Breakfast Club this morning hear what's going on and thank you for your support of Henry Ford.

Thank you so much. That was great. Again, big thanks to PNC, LTU, DAD, and Henry Ford Health and all of our sponsors. I know this is a tough time for a lot of us, a lot of companies, a lot of organizations who still found a way to get their way here to this. Really appreciate it. Your being here also shows how important this is because, you know, we're going to talk about important issues this morning. And speaking of that, before I say this, is Brian White here? Did he make it out of the VIP line? He called me from the VIP line. There we go. Okay. So, the city is under new leadership as Mary Sheffield won a decisive victory in November. She's the first woman to hold the job following 75 men who preceded her. She couldn't be with us today, but we're pleased that Brian White, her deputy mayor, is here. Mr. Deputy Mayor Brian White, please join us.

Good morning. Thank you Carol Kaine and the Free Press for hosting this magnificent event. This is my first time attending. Won't be the last I will say. But it is truly an honor to stand here before you to represent Mayor Mary Sheffield. And I will say that she wanted to be here. And I'll just tell you why because it speaks to who she is. She takes care of one of her little cousins like she's her own daughter. And her little cousin had to move back to Detroit this week and is starting school today and it was she's just in shambles about going to a new school. So the mayor wanted to be there with her this morning and usher her into that new experience. So she always centers people, family and seniors first and especially our children. So that's what she's doing this morning. I also wanted to just introduce also she sent her top brass here today. Present company not included. Her chief of staff David Bowser if you could just raise his hand and Trisha Stein who many of you know is her chief strategy officer so she's here with us this morning as well. I want to also take a brief moment to thank our sponsors as you've seen in the news recently the mayor has been able to make some big bold announcements already with RX Kids coming to Detroit, new office of health, human, and homeless services. And a large part of that is due to the support of people in this room, the donors and sponsors who are stepping up to ask what's important to the mayor. And she's being able to execute her agenda largely because of your support. So, I just want to have you give yourselves a round of applause for that. And then lastly, I just want to say a couple of words about today's speakers. First and foremost, Mark Reuss from GM. The mayor would like for me to extend her heartfelt dismay of not being here today. She wanted to join you, but again, she had family matters. But just thank you to GM for what you've meant to this city. Having one of the big three headquartered in the city of Detroit is something we like to hang our hat on and it's important to see you in this new facility and all the great things that will come out of this building. So, let's give GM and Mark Reuss a round of applause. And then to Roger Penske. Where's Roger? Is he in there?

He's backstage.

Okay, he's backstage. All right. Just what an amazing man. If you know Roger is to love Roger. I can't think and I'm surprised that he wasn't born here. That was the first I heard that. But I can't think of a bigger ambassador for the city of Detroit than Roger Penske. So, we can't say enough about Roger and what he's meant to the city of Detroit, helping bring the Super Bowl to Detroit, bringing the Grand Prix back down, the Q-ine, you, it goes on and on. And so, we just want to say and pause for a moment to say thank you to Roger Penske for all you mean to the city of Detroit. So, let's give him a round of applause. All right, Carol's on my heels, so that's my cue. So, I just want to again thank you on behalf of the mayor of the city of Detroit, Mary Sheffield. And just know that we see regionalism as the key to our success and we're depending on all of you to move this city forward. So, thank you so much.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Mayor. Great to see you. All right, so let's bring him out. You've heard his name mentioned a couple times already this morning. So, let's bring him out. Mark Reuss, join us to give the official welcome to your new world headquarters. Please put your hands together for the president of General Motors, Mark Reuss.

Wow. Why don't you have a seat next to me? So, we're going to bring up someone who really doesn't need an introduction to 99.999% of the folks in this room. Roger Penske's path is so tied to Detroit where his business and philanthropic efforts have been focused. He runs a global transportation company, an ultra successful motor racing empire, and as we know, his heart is so tied to Detroit. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the captain, Roger Penske.

Well, that was quite an opening. So, Roger, I can't thank you enough for joining us today on this momentous day where we're celebrating GM's move back to Woodward and this new facility. And again, I appreciate you being here. Excuse me, Mark. I appreciate you being here. You both have done so much in the city, your impact in business, the corporate community, philanthropic, and beyond, not just here, but around the globe. So, thank you again for being here. So, Roger, let me start with you on this because your history with GM goes way back to the time when with Chevy and also with GM. You were a race car driver early on. You became a Chevy dealer. You have partner motorsports through team Penske Prix and the Indy Car Series. So, talk about the history of you and GM and Chevy and how it's evolved.

Well, first Carol, let me welcome everyone here today and thank you for letting me be part of this great occasion. And Mark to you and Mary Barra and the whole board of directors to make the commitment, you know, here in our city to stay here was a watershed decision. People don't realize that really the anchor. This is really when you think about it, is the automotive capital of the world and there's no question that your presence here at GM and what they've done the investment here is amazing. But you know, I'll tell you a funny story. I was at Lehigh in college and you know, I was very interested in racing and in 1957, many of you weren't around in 57 I know that. When you think, seven decades ago, and I went to the Chevrolet dealer in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania had a competition Corvette. I bought it on a GAC payment book, just to let you know how we got started. So, you think about that. So, I was really into the game at that point. But, you know, Carol, I started out obviously driving myself and had an opportunity to race a car in Daytona. Our team did. And as we progressed and then really in 1965, I became a Chevrolet dealer in West Philadelphia. When you think about it, how many years ago? And Mark, that was a time you could buy an Impala with white walls for $2,800 just to put it in perspective. And you can't buy a set of wheels for that now for your car. But seriously, so that really manifested itself and we obviously teamed up with GM and had the Trans Am series which we won, then moved on and I had the opportunity during this time really in the 70s to meet Mark's dad Lloyd Reuss when he was chief engineer at Chevy and he was very interested in motorsports and performance and we teamed up really in '86 and decided that we were going to do an Indy engine. You go back to 1920, I think was the first time, I think it was Louis Chevrolet or one of them won the Indy 500 back at that point when you think about it. But we took two years and I remember the story. We went out to Michigan and we're taking the car out there with a Chevy engine and we were like this hoping that we could make a couple laps at a couple hundred miles an hour cuz that's what we had told Lloyd. He was standing. I'll never forget that day. It was probably one of the days that I'll always remember. But that manifested itself really into a partnership Carol with General Motors and Chevrolet and really the company which has given us myself and our family and our company really the background and obviously the foundation to have the success. And through that 2-year period, 86 to 88, we then went to Indianapolis and we won the first 500 for over 60-some years for Chevrolet. And think about it, since that time, we've had 20 wins and 10 of them have been with General Motors. And Mark doing a little homework before today, we've had 165 wins with Chevrolet product and General Motors product. So this really helped us launch ourselves and the partnership and not to take a lot of time here this morning but think about we had the opportunity we were Detroit Diesel distributor in New York. GM had decided to sell off some of their non-core products and we partnered with GM at Detroit Diesel and within three years together we took the market share in the heavy duty truck market from 3% to 30% and that was a complete against Caterpillar and against Cummins and that was the partnership and I think dealing with Mark and the entire company this has been game-changing for our company today and I can't thank you enough for the opportunity. When you think about how are you successful? My dad told me a long time ago, effort equals results. There's no question. But I think it's about partnerships. And I can look through my whole history and people like Mark and other people that are here today with the automotive community that have really helped us, Carol. So I go way back to 1957 and Mark has told me he's expecting an Indy win this year. So, number 21. I got the word outside before we came in today. So, we'll see. We'll see what happens.

There we go. So, Mark, I'm hoping I'm not aging you here by this, but you have had a bird's eye view of the gentleman to your left. And watched the making of an American icon and Roger, who happens to be one of ours here locally. If I had a dime for every person in this room who has told me their Roger story of something you had done early on in their career or whatever that impacted them, Roger, it's just amazing. But talk about Roger's impact and his organization is here on Detroit in this region.

Well, just one quick question here. Renaissance Center. You're moving from the Renaissance Center, which GM still owns as of today. Here, what happens to the Renaissance Center? What would you like to see happen? And what will GM's role be?

Is that something would you ever consider selling it?

Roger, you have been a champion for the Motor City forever.

Reasons major events, the NCAA Final Four 2027, the 2024 NFL draft. Much of that comes from things because of the philanthropic things that you did to help the city. From your bird's eye view of what has transpired in recent years, how do you think Detroit's reputation has changed and how do you think we're viewed around the world now?

Well, I think back to 2003 when I got a call from Bill Ford Jr. to take over and be the chairman of the Super Bowl. I think about the city at that point, Mark. It was a challenge, but it was amazing how the private sector along with the local political officials got together and started to build momentum. I remember calling MDOT and saying we need to clean up I-94 and I-75. We got people coming in from around the world. How do we look? I remember having two vans with painters and we'd say, 'Let's paint this building, this building, and tear this one down.' This was the momentum. It wasn't just me. I happened to have a responsibility, but it was the amalgamation of the people here in Detroit. To see the success of the Super Bowl and what we've been able to accomplish since then. And when you think about M1 Rail, we talked about M1 Rail. Think 150 million from the private sector. Talking to Lisa today who ran that for us until it was turned over to Regional Transit. A million riders. Think about that. And this is Woodward. Just think about Woodward, what that meant to us from the old GM headquarters downtown. 11 or 12 billion dollars have been invested. So you look at the Super Bowl, you look at what we've been able to accomplish from the standpoint of Woodward. And then one thing that goes to Dave Bing, and thinking about you out here today as part of this. Dave Bing called some business leaders here in the city and he said, 'I need to get together. It was a snowy day.' We went to see him. He said, 'I've got a real problem. We're not going to be able to open up the parks for the kids this summer. I don't have enough police cars. I don't have enough EMS units in order to help the city.' I said, 'I'll take that one on.' I made three phone calls. We got 100 police cars. The foundations and the automotive industry here stepped up and we gave back to the city. That's what I see today. We can see the buildings and certainly General Motors, and I take my hat off to Gilbert and Illich and a lot of the people that have committed here. But it's really the human capital, the people here that have taken their hard work and their capital to help this city. So I see trouble back in 2002 and 2003, what we went through. How about the bankruptcy? Mike Duggan, what a job, 12 years, and he helped champion the big bargain to get us through to where we are today. And then Mary Sheffield coming in, which we're excited with her history at the city council. She should be a great leader too. So, I see Super Bowl, I see where we are today, and this obviously shows where we are. The city is vibrant and to be able to showcase the city. I tell this to Bud Denker, when we have the TV here and you showcase Detroit, that's worth a Super Bowl. Look at the city when we have the race here. So, I can't thank Mark and the partnership we have for that too. It's a great partnership. Thank everybody here for what you've done.

You look like you were going to say something, Mark.

Yeah, I know. You're watching the clock too. We're all watching the clock. Anyway, so we're here and I know Sam Klemet. We heard from Todd Zatz, the Detroit Auto Dealers. They've got the Detroit Auto Show going, officially kicking off tomorrow, though it's just kind of the unofficial start of it today. Thoughts about the show and how do you see its role? How do you see the role of the Detroit Auto Show fitting in?

Let me ask real quickly here about auto dealers. You're both involved in businesses which have a huge chunk of business and revenue tied to how auto dealers are doing. The industry is changing. There's a lot of competition from non-traditional auto dealer ways of buying cars and trucks at this point in time. How drastically has it changed now from when you started and where do you see the trajectory going on that?

Well, I think...

He's a dealer too, by the way.

Yeah. Really big one.

Well, let's say this. The one thing we have in the United States is a franchise system. I think that the major US manufacturers are committed to that long term. We've got a lot of direct selling that are trying to take place. It's difficult because you just don't barcode a windshield of a car and people drive it out. We've got a trade-in, we got financing, we got a lot of things. Remember, we're the downstream partner with the manufacturer because it goes a lot further than just the sale of the car. It's the service, it's the things that take place. I think the dealer, if you meet the requirements, and I would say this, the OEMs are expecting common CI, corporate identity, common training, and things like that. Then the opportunity through AI that we're using in order to connect with our customers. This is all being helped generated by the manufacturers. So I see that partnership getting stronger. I've said before one of the critical things is the captive finance company. When I look at GM and I look at the real players in the business, that is the underlying strength. Guess what? Our floor plan, our customer leasing, our customer financing and capital loans for the dealers. We're so hooked together. I don't think there's anyone that I see in my lifetime that is going to come in and blow up the franchise system. There'll be people gnawing at the side of it in some of the startups, but sure there are competitors. But at the end of the day for us, we'll sell 500,000 new and used vehicles this year. And I can tell you every one of them is sold through a franchise system on a worldwide basis. So I see it being strong. I don't know how you feel, Mark.

Wow. So, I know you both, besides having a love of Detroit, a love of motorsports, which is huge to both of you. Mark, you're both professional race car drivers. You did something that few people in this room, I'm going to guess, have probably done, and that's drive a Corvette ZR1 at 233 miles per hour. You have to tell me where this was. It wasn't on the Lodge, no doubt.

So what was that like?

You hold your breath.

Forcing the blood trying to force the blood out of my head. But speaking of motorsports, a couple of things here. We're deeply committed to motorsports and we have been along the way. We race in the GTP, IMSA and WEC. We race Corvettes globally. It's a big deal. And then IndyCar, of course. 134 wins across all of our national series last year, 11 driver championships, five manufacturers championships, and three championships. Thanks to people like what's going on right here. We are deeply committed. These are some pictures of our tech center in Charlotte. We just finished that and we're doing things like the gray car that you'll see out here for GTP. Lots of aero work, lots of chassis work, lots of Formula 1 work, lots of NASCAR work. The drivers in the simulators here, and you saw it, Roger, we took you on a tour of it there. Our simulation work that's going on right now is going to enable a pretty fast entry to the grid here. That's extremely important to us. With Cadillac, we've really curated this. It leads to really cool ideas on production cars too. Not to dwell too much on that, but we do some pretty cool cars for Cadillac and Blackwings. So we'll see, right? Your simulator, when you think about it, people don't realize airplane pilots, before they fly, they're in a simulator. The actual feeling of a simulator that GM has for our drivers, they're dying to get in it every day. They go in before a race and they'll actually drive the car like they will on the race. Then they'll come back after the race to be sure and they just keep refining it. I would say GM is at the top level there and our IndyCar guys are there all the time. You're waiting in line.

Mark, that you've made on this, especially as you look at your Formula 1.

Speaking of racing in Detroit, both of you are involved with the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear. I think I got that name in correctly there. Get all those sponsors in there. With whatever is going to happen with the Renaissance Center, the track for the Grand Prix, I'm going to assume might be affected. I don't know if anything would be going on this year. Any conversation about that yet?

Presumably.

The byproduct of this partnership is $10 million that we from the Grand Prix have given back to the community. Remember that the underlying foundation of having this race here is for the community and for Detroit. You folks out here that help us there, it's a big help. I would hope that we've got two or three years and then we'll sit down, as Mark said, and determine what we can do because it's free. Think about the economic benefit. It's almost $100 million and we run the race here. Everybody's getting a benefit here. Guess what? It's another staple we're putting into the city of Detroit and we've got to continue to do that. Having GM there and to think about the pit lane that Bud and the team did this past couple of years, you sit there and you see the GM building there at the end of the pit lane. You go out there and look at it, it's massive. There's no place like it. Mark, you've been a big supporter of ours, but I would say we're going to continue to race in Detroit and we want to see the building going on. Things are happening.

I guess construction cranes are good sights. That's what I remember Dennis Archer way back when he was mayor told me that when everyone was complaining about the cranes going up and causing construction delays. Speaking of issues, let's 2025. I don't know what adjectives you might use and I guess behind closed doors you might use other words. I'll just call it turbulent with respect to managing operating supply chains and managing supply chains with the president's tariffs and other things that have been going on throughout the last 12 months here. How difficult has it been to manage? And I'm curious what you see as we're looking into 2026.

From a supply chain, when I think about 2025, the big thing we had to deal with was the disruption with the tariffs. We're so concerned about automotive here, but when you think about Washington, is it eggs? What is it? Is it oil? All these different things and products that they're worrying about. The impact, I think General Motors is able to pivot and deal with this. We as a dealer, we've seen some escalation of pricing with some of the premium luxury. We've seen supply by some being shortened up. Then we had Land Rover this year over in the UK that had a breach, Mark, as you know they were shut down. Those are things, but quite honestly the core part of our business didn't change and that's the parts and service. I think we focused even more to connect in these, what we call, you have the new car buyer, but when you look at tier two and tier three, these are people that have cars that are five and 10 years old. We're digging into that now. We're using technology. Why haven't you been in? So we did a lot more farming within our dealer group of customers in order to be able to survive through some of this. Overall, and certainly Mark we talked about it earlier, as we saw the abrupt stop in September on battery electric vehicles, a 19% in the month of September go down. I think you said it's going to take probably the next quarter or so to see where this thing levels out. So we were dealing with that and I call it the gap. When you look at this, we had the electric vehicles being sold in California and places like it maybe 20%, 25%. But when that $7,500 stopped, there was a gap and the ICE vehicles didn't pick that up. So we're starting to have that merge now as we look into 2026. As Mark said, it's going to take time. Those customers are there and there's going to be a journey to 2030, 2035. We just don't know how fast it's going to go. But infrastructure, range, hybrids, all these things are going to play a part in this. We've got to be versatile. A car dealer is a trader. We understand how to get by in tough times.

Entrepreneurs.

Yeah. Right. We both know that the president is scheduled to be in Detroit today. You both have talked to the president and have every so often. I don't know how recently, but with all of the evolving policies coming out of Washington quickly changing, no less. Have you talked with him? Do you think he understands the complexities of the auto industry and the auto business and how difficult it is? For example, if you say bring all production back to the US, how hard that is to actually do to gear up building plants and the such.

Yeah.

Do you?

I think it's business friendly. There's no question as we look at this commitment and I hear 1 trillion, 2 trillion, 10 trillion, some of those numbers are telephone numbers. But if we can get those commitments to happen, the byproduct of that is going to be not in the next 6 or 12 months, it's going to be 24 to 36 months. If we can build these plants and the suppliers come back, it's going to be a real benefit to the middle class. That's how I'm looking at it. Mark, I don't know if you do, but certainly the Secretary of Transportation is looking at in our truck business a lot of these nuclear verdicts on accidents. They're looking at CDLs, commercial driver licenses that people are operating. You think about a freight market that really is tough for a freight company, but we have 100,000 illegal drivers driving with no insurance. In many cases, no licenses. The government is little by little, we don't read about those things, starting to clamp down on that, which I think is very important. There's no question the clean air, clean truck. Mark, I know you and Mary were very key as we talked to pull the waivers in California because I think there were 13 states that had different regulations for emissions. Now under the current administration and the current legislation that's taken place, all of our states will have the same, which is key from the standpoint of emission standards. That's a benefit. Wouldn't you say?

There's so many things going on and there's so many different avenues that have to be touched. I would say the cabinet has some good people. I'm concerned socially personally on what's going on in these cities, but just think about our city today. Homicides down 19%. Amazing. Think about that. We've got a third of the population in the city of Detroit under 24 years old. Things are happening when you've got the proper management. It's in our own companies that way and it's certainly across this country. I've got 15 grandchildren. I'm concerned about what they are going to grow up into and where we're going to be. Can they go to college and what are the things that they're going to take place? We have to think about that and not react. I think Mike Duggan has been on the front of that for the last 12 years. Hopefully Mary Sheffield will take that. She's kept the police commissioner here, which is critical. I've talked to Mike a lot and hopefully that he's going to be successful in his strive to be the governor. He certainly has the credentials.

I know that Bill Ford has also come out and endorsed him. And Mark, are you getting in the endorsement game?

Mark, we know GM's committed. We know it is. Someone lives in the state of Michigan, operates businesses here. I think it takes a hat off to you and certainly Mary Barra and the entire company for the commitment here in Michigan. That's why we're able to see the things happening here. We're going to continue. A byproduct of the Grand Prix, the Boys and Girls Club, they have an opportunity to go to Dubai. We sent six kids to Dubai for autonomous vehicles. Think about that. That came out of the Grand Prix and the things that we've done in conjunction with you folks. Those are the little things that we got to continue to do. They're not on the front page of the paper, but that's the heart and soul, the DNA of General Motors and the partnership that we have with them here. All of us do.

You're both involved with Business Leaders for Michigan and other organizations here. We know there's a huge focus with everybody from the mayor, the governor, senators, everybody on making sure our kids are better educated, getting the skills they need for the future here. How do you think, in a nutshell, we're doing as a region and state at educating young folks? You've seen the test scores, which is obviously one barometer, but how are we doing?

Yeah.

Yeah. Anything on education?

Carol, I would say part of education is work. The opportunity that we've done here with the workforce development within the city and the opportunity for these kids to be apprentices potentially during the summer is critical. We can get them to a certain point, but if they can't go out and work, and many of these are kids from single parents, think about that and how tough that is. If we can get the basics, these neighborhood programs that we've put together have been amazing. But there's a long way to go here. I'm interested in seeing that. As I did and Mark did, when you're delivering newspapers or you're flipping hamburgers or whatever you're doing, we got to get these kids out. Standing on the corner with our iPhone, that's not going to make it. That's what we're fighting. Communication today is not face to face anymore. It's I'm going to talk to you on your phone. Don't you agree? We didn't grow up that way. I think we're committed here in this state and we're committed here in this city. This workforce program, I think, is terrific. I know that GM has played a big part of that.

Mark, I want to ask you this because the Gordie Howe Bridge is coming to life here matter of weeks, months, sometime in 2026. I know you were involved at one point with the Gordie Howe Bridge and helping to bring that to life here. There's a trade agreement between US, Canada, and Mexico right now which is up for review. This was signed during Donald Trump's first term. A lot of conversation going on there. How important is Canada to GM?

But don't you think, Mark, this is a critical point for the president? It's got to be solved because it has an impact. Manufacturing parts in Canada, bring them to the US. There's all the manufacturers. From my perspective, that should be almost at the top right now. We understand tariffs are coming. They're dealing with the international manufacturers, but today for us in the US, this is critical.

I know someone in the audience, Colin Bird, is here, the Canadian Consul General. He's probably calling Mark Carney saying, 'Did you hear that? Did you?'

Yeah. So we are kind of winding it down a little bit here, Roger. Is there anything else with all the different conversations, all the pieces, all the things? Is there one point or one thing you want to leave thought with this audience? You have a lot of influential people here who have taken time out of busy days to be here.

Well, I want to thank them for the commitment that they've given the city and certainly the state. We got to continue as one group of people that make a difference. Think about every day if our companies some way can make a difference and give back. That's what we try to do in our organization. Mark talked about what General Motors does. I would just hope we continue that. Carol, things like this, getting together and being able to share some of our thoughts and experiences is so important. I want to thank you for the opportunity to be here today. Thank you.

Thank you. And Mark, any final thought?

Yeah. So enjoy it. That's all the big news we have today.

The car will be on display at the Detroit Auto Show if you don't get a chance to see it now. Also for people here who wanted to take a tour of GM's headquarters, people will gather.

Come over this way if you want to take the tour. I want to thank Mark Reuss, Roger Penske for being part of this historic event and day and the evolving story of the Motor City. Thanks to the sponsors. Watch for notice of the next Breakfast Club. You can see a recap of this event on Michigan Matters this Sunday on CBS Detroit. Again, the tours are available. Thank you guys so much for being here and everybody have a safe day and enjoy the Detroit Auto Show.