Hey, and welcome to a special edition of Michigan Matters. We travel to the Motor City for the opening of GM's new world headquarters as the Detroit Free Press Breakfast Club Forum was about to begin with Roger Penske and GM President Mark Reuss.
From CBS Detroit, this is Michigan Matters with Carol Cain. Michigan Matters is brought to you in part by Cure Auto Insurance.
With GM moving into its new headquarters, which is inside the new Hudson's building, and this being the first event kicking off a busy Detroit Auto Show week, it was a see-and-be-seen crowd. Roger, let me start with you on this because your history with GM goes back way back. You were a race car driver early on. You became a Chevy dealer. You have Penske Motorsports through Team Penske, Grand Prix, and the IndyCar 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 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 in 1957 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, you know, 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. Mark, that was a time you could buy an Impala with white walls for $2,800. Just to put it in perspective, we obviously teamed up with GM and had the Trans Am series which we won and 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. 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 dealing with Mark and the entire company. This has been game-changing for our company today and I can't thank you enough.
Talk about Roger's impact and his organizations here on Detroit and this region.
I literally have known Roger my whole life, which that's a privilege number one. And number two, I can remember those days my dad taking me to the Indy 500 and I met you for the first time actually. So in '86 I was graduated from college but even before then, before we had those, we had the stock blocks for Buick and Chevrolet, remember those? And boy, you know, going to the Indy 500, I just really wanted to be an engineer. I really wanted to be like Roger, you know, and be like the company because the execution was always so high. And frankly I was in awe every time my dad took me to one of those races and his wife Kathy sort of always took care of me because there was a lot of business going on so I was sort of hanging around and I looked older than I was so I could sneak into the pits, you know, but she always took care of me. So a lot of fond memories there but also a lot of winning memories and you know later as we became business partners over a long period of time, Roger and I post-financial crisis sat down and said, you know, I'd really like to have a Chevrolet engine back in IndyCar and Ilmor is still there, the original partnership that goes back to that '86 time frame, right? And you know, what could we do to do that? And so we sat down with Bud and the whole Penske team and took a look at can we get another Detroit race here? And I said, I'd love to be able to say that we have another co-developed engine and another race in Detroit. And we both really had that drive with IndyCar at the time before Penske's ownership of it to drive that home and get a race back. And I have a lot of memories of that. Those, the first race, Bud Denker was pouring like a dry mix onto the concrete on Belle Isle. Remember that? To make sure because some of the rubber was coming up on the tracks. So that's the kind of commitment though that the Penske Corporation has. And you know, I wasn't around in '67 with Mark Donohue and the whole Trans Am piece, but I sure have a lot of memories of the cars, the drivers, and the company has always been, you know, a standard of excellence.
We're just warming up. Keep it here as the conversation continues with Roger Penske and Mark Reuss after this.
Welcome back to Michigan Matters and our conversation with Roger Penske and Mark Reuss. We talked about our largest industry, autos. 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? I mean, do you think he understands the complexities of the auto industry and the auto business and how difficult it is?
I've got to say the administration doesn't come from the auto industry. But as this was being rolled out and put in place, it's been a really open door for some of the puts and takes on what happens because you know we make engines in Flint, a lot of engines in Flint that go into trucks that are made in Mexico that come into Mexico, and that's just one example of that. So the supply chains are very complex. They're global. And so you have to get into that detail to be able to know that and bringing production back to the United States is something that everybody would love to see because it's jobs and it's growth and it's all of that. So we're doing that. And so I would say it's been a really open conversation and constructive pretty much from day one. And you know, we've worked with I don't know how many administrations over what period of time, but we work with every administration. And so, you know, this isn't one administration versus that's not what's going on. It's how can we do this? How can we get, you know, real support and real fundamental growth in the industrial manufacturing base of the auto industry here? And so that's been the conversation.
Yeah, I think it's business-friendly, I would say. And there's no question as we look at this commitment and I hear 1 trillion, 2 trillion, 10 trillion, some of those numbers, you know, obviously are telephone numbers, but if we can get those commitments to happen and we look, the byproduct of that's going to be not in the next 6 or 12 months, it's going to be 24 to 36 months. And if we can build these plants and the suppliers come back, it's going to be a real benefit to the middle class. 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, you know, for emissions. Well, now under the current administration and the current legislation has taken place, all of our states will have the same, which is key from the standpoint of certainly emission standards, which makes that's a benefit. Wouldn't you say?
Oh my gosh, it was billions of dollars worldwide as well. Trying to get, you know, internal combustion engine powertrain regulatory consistency and so it's a big deal.
Let's talk a little bit about this building and Mark, this building which is so historic and GM making the imprint looking to Michigan's history in terms of architecture, art, and just touches all throughout this building.
Well, if you go back in history and you look at GM really brought aesthetic design to the industry. People sometimes don't know that but we did. And so the Harley Earl piece of that and then the Saarinen influence of the mid-century modern is something that's very important to us because we still believe that design drives the passionate buying experience, putting the customer at the center of all that and that was based on a lot of research and a lot of history that came about. In fact, there's a, I think there's the '38 ACD coupe sitting out here, but also, you know, sort of the Cadillac Celestiq is sort of our current design thinking for Cadillac that's in this building. So, it goes right down to the sections of the wood walls are similar to the tech center and design and other places there. All those things are really carefully curated. Even the floor that you're sitting on here is really brought from that mid-century modern that we have in a lot of our different facilities. And the Berto, of course, that's hanging, there's a lot of rich heritage to the Berto wall that is a Cadillac house in the center of the tech center and then in Flint. And so a lot of really cool stories I could go on and on. I know you said we don't have a lot of time on that but just take a moment and take a look at some of those things. We redid the goddess, the goddess that's sitting out there that hasn't been seen in a long, long time. So, our sculptors in Warren did that. So, great stuff.
All right. 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?
Well, you know, we put a billion dollars in that riverfront. So, you know, big commitments and we sort of redid the inside of that ring. It's a very difficult building to visit and work in. I worked in there for a while. But it's a bit confusing. So, we did that. We put the money in it and we don't want to see all that go away necessarily and I think Dan Gilbert and his team did a nice job of putting renderings together that show the possibilities of office, of residential, of commercial all coexisting there and creating and reimagining the whole waterfront. So, you know, it's not derelict. We don't want to see any of that. We want to see that part of the skyline still and I think we can do that.
Would you ever consider selling it?
You know, we're open to anything, but you know, we put $250 million commitment-wise into that to make sure that the right things happen there, and we're hopeful.
Coming up, the focus shifts to motorsports and Detroit. Keep it right here.
Besides having a love of Detroit, a love of motorsports, which is huge to both of you, and 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, which I... You have to tell me where this was. It wasn't on the Lodge, no doubt.
No, but this morning was very competitive, but it was not on the Lodge.
