August 8, 2025 • 39 mins
General Motors President Mark Reuss joins the podcast to talk about how GM does EVs and why. Plus, the new Corvette records at the Nürburgring and why Formula 1 is essential to the brand. And a tease for Chevy's two new concepts set to unveil during Monterey Car Week.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. I'm Matt Miller and
I'm Hannah Elliott, and this is Hot Pursuit.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
We have a very special guest for you this week.
President of General Motors Mark Royce joins us to talk
about a number of interesting things.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
But Corvette records, I think are front and front.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Center Corvette records for sure. Obviously GM has had a
rough few quarters, just like every other automaker, but you
and I have business wise, yeah, business wise, but you know,
you and I both have driven recent GM products, recent
GM EV products, and we've actually been pleasantly surprised, I
think on both of us.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I definitely have I feel like.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Every time I get into an EV or I really
that I'm gonna be delivered an EV to test out,
I'm like, kind of I'm not bummed out, but I'm
just like not excited. And then I drive them. And
at first, of course they were fast and the torque
instant torque was kind of fun. But I've really started
to notice that I like the driving dynamics of the
(01:19):
newer ones, and charging them isn't as much of a
pain in the ass as it had been in the past. Certainly, faster,
and I know more about how it works. So the
learning curve it's pretty steep, but once you get there,
it's just not as bad as I have always thought.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
It would be.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah, I think it'll be very interesting to see if,
like as popular opinion sort of cool somewhat on EVS
at the moment, whether these good products get lost in
that attitude shift or not, Like, can GM have the
staying power and obviously they have strategies like making some
(02:01):
vehicles with Hyundai for instance, can they sort of ride
out this momentary dip in the cooling of interests in EVS.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I wonder if the whole industry can ride it at Yes,
I've been thinking about this all week.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
I wonder Ferrari, it's temporary.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
It's temporary.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
But is there is there anyone who's buying evs now
who wasn't isn't an early adopter see that?
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I don't think so. I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
I don't think so unless you're someone like like, we
get a chance to test drive these vehicles all the time,
but your average consumer maybe you can take a test
drive at a deal or for twenty minutes or an
hour max. So they don't get a chance to see
the benefits or learn the way we do, and I
wonder if it's gonna work out. I've always said I'm
(02:45):
sure EV's are gonna be the future, but are they really?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Is it gonna you know?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I also think there's real differentiation because you know, I
loved the Dodge Charger EV. I loved the driving dynamics,
I love the styling, but at the end of the day,
it gets far less than two hundred miles to a charge,
So I'm not gonna buy that.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
At the end of the day. Maybe that's your second EV.
And how many people are buying two EV's not a lot,
but like maybe the Dodge is your second EV on
top of one that does have more range.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Well, the thing is, I've noticed that these GM vehicles
have a ton more range than almost everyone else. I
can't remember what the EV nine was and that was
I think pretty impressive, but.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I think it was around three.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
So that's that's the mark you've got to hit.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
And totally they're getting that with the Silverado, EV, with
the Hummer, with the Cadillac and now recently I've driven
the Blazer and the Vistick and they all had that.
I don't think the Vistick was quite as much, but
they had these giant two hundred kilowat hour battery packs
around there, and that just gives you monstrous range.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, the Optic has I think two hundred or sorry,
three hundred and two miles and I had zero anxiety
driving that thing. And I had it for a week
and I drove all I would find reasons to drive it,
which says a lot, because usually I am not wanting
to charge, not wanting to drive them because it's a hassle.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
But well, there just seem to be so many more
EV's now to choose from that whole list of GM
EV's I've driven in the past couple of months, and
I have coming up. I have the new Ix to
drive from BMW. I have the new Macon coming from Portia.
(04:28):
I have I'm finally going to drive a Rivian like
you know, three years later coming up.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
So I have a lot of evs stacked.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Wow. I mean, did you ever think you'd be here, Matt?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
No, And I mean the funny thing is, the more
I drive them, the more I think, uh, maybe I
buy one as a family. There's so many more family cars, right,
I'm looking for I'm waiting for. And I talked to
Jim Farley a couple weeks ago and he said, they're
eventually coming out with this three row EV, and if
they do a super duty version of it, then I'm
(04:59):
in because I want.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
A super duty three row EV.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
But they haven't made a super duty EV since super
duty three row since, you know, for an ice vehicle,
since the Excursion for Ford, and there used to be
a super duty version of the suburban. But there's no
super duty three row right now.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
So you would consider an EV as the primary family vehicle.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Yeah, I would for sure.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Wow Wow, Yeah, because you leave it plugged in at
your house then when you want to take a trip.
I've I've realized how superchargers are, high speed chargers work,
and I know how to find them, so I'm not
as worried as I used to be about it.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah. That's interesting because I used to kind of think, Okay,
most people are going to have a combustion vehicle as
their primary car, and then they might have an EV,
but they want the stability and safety emotionally speaking of
something that runs on gasoline.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Now for me, it's flipped interesting, right, I will be
in the next couple of years. Happy to have an
ev as.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
The family as the grocery getter, but I'm going to
have you know, a fire breathing.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Well that car that is actually if we're talking like
long term, that's what everybody has said about these fun
sports cars that we all like to drive, like you know,
air cooled Porsches for instance. We don't need those cars,
but we still have them around because they're fun to drive,
and they have personality and character. And there's the argument that,
you know, internal combustion will never completely go away because
(06:28):
there will be hobbyists an enthusiast who maintain the cars
at a reduced level as simply weekend fun toys.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
I prefer the term enthusiast.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
I hope no one ever calls me a hobbyist, hobbyist, enthusiast.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Young me would have hated it. Old me was going
to be a hobbyist.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
All right, let's get to this interview then, with Mark Royce,
the president of General Motors. I'm really happy to have
you Mark. I'm obviously we're both huge fans of your products.
That you know, Hannah has actually bought a number of Corvettes,
and uh.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
It's true this is true.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I just got out of the Cadillac Vistick as well,
which totally impressed me. And I have to say more
and more, I'm enjoying my time in evs, which is
shocking to anyone who knows me to hear that come
out of my mouth. But I wonder what you think
about the the evolution of you know, the driving capabilities
of your electric vehicles.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
That's a great, great question, because I'm with you. I
just bought a Vistick, you know, and I have three
kids and now they're they're having boyfriend's girlfriends and spouses
and now a grand child on the way very shortly.
So we're you know, we we we we have one
of our big SUV's and I just traded in as
(07:52):
a twenty one for a new Vestic. And I have
to say, you know, the more I'm in that type
of vehicle, the more I joy it. And you know,
the one I bought has air ride and four wheel steer,
and you know, it's everything. It's really everything you could imagine,
and the fuel economy and the range is right in there,
you know, at over three hundred and almost all of them,
(08:14):
in fact, all of them. It's really not a compromise anymore.
And they're fun to drive, and they're beautifully quiet, and
especially that the Cadillacs are, you know, everything the Cadillacts
should be, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I mean even even the Chevy Blazer EV.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
I drove the SS version and I had a longer
trip to make in it, and my wife was a
little bit nervous about, you know, doing four hundred miles
in electric vehicle, but the car knew where the next
supercharger was. It took us literally twelve minutes to charge
from twenty percent to eighty percent, and it was like
such a great uh.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
We used to call it a sleeper.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Right, a big station wagon that you don't know is
going to be a super fast ride for like an
Autobahn journey. So I just more and more often as
we get the variety. I'm really impressed by the driving
characteristics of these vehicles.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
It's great you say that, because I would say that
this has been written as well by other people like yourself,
that our vehicle dynamics and our integration is world class.
It's it could be the best in the industry. And
I think you see it when we have engineers like
the ones that set the times at the Ring A
combined you know, they're a combined experience level of thirty
(09:34):
six years, and so you know these that's what they
do and that's all they do in fact them out
here today at the proving grounds, we spend about five
hours every Friday looking at every single car and every
stage of development, and we pick, you know, a target
to beat in segment and so we do that and
so there's no surprise when we launch that we're going
(09:57):
to get good reviews. And so we've been doing that
for quite a while. But that's really part of the
deal is you know, there's five or six of us
that that ride every car, with every chief engineer and
the development team and you know, the whole integration team
out here every week, and so I think it's really
a big competitive advantage. So I'm happy you recognize that mark.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
We just this week ran my review of the Optic,
which I also thought was really solid, and I remember
when that car first debuted. Hun Kim was telling me that,
you know, GM has seen an increase of younger buyers,
and by younger, we're talking like maybe around forty or
younger than that. Is that who you find buying vehicles
(10:45):
like the Optic and the Vistick, is it typically a
younger buyer or not necessarily.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
I think if you look at Cadillac as a whole,
we're under you know, this is a this has been
a long journey to transform the brand, and you know,
the portfolio on the commitment that the company has put
behind it, both in people and products, is beginning to
tell that story. And I would say that, you know,
if you look at the demographics of Cadillac along with Buick,
(11:14):
we're seeing an influx of younger people and it's changing
the ages, but it's also conquesting. And so you know,
we're running about seventy percent conquest on our Cadillac evs,
Which that's a great story right there, right Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
I mean it's interesting to me because obviously this is
a really difficult time in the automotive industry. I know,
profits have really suffered, but I also read that sales
are up in the US for GM and in China.
Can you talk about that duality that you know, it's
(11:51):
very challenging out there right now, but also like sales
are up, that's.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
Right, Yeah, We've we've gained share for you know, several
quarters now and we're running over seventeen percent in the US,
which is a really good healthy share for US. And
then if you look at the utilization of capacity, we're
increasing that as we look at different footprints of different
cars as we introduce them. So that's a positive thing too.
(12:17):
And if you look at that along with China and
you look at the turnaround that we have going on
in China, it's really a matching supply and demand fundamentally,
but also the discipline and pricing. You know, there's people
that will raise prices amidst the tariff structure that we're
(12:39):
seeing unfold. We're not doing that. We have at the
end of the day, extremely desirable vehicles and it all
gets down to product. And that's both in China and here.
And the pricing discipline in China and the commercial piece
of that has seen a seismic change. So we've got
a new team team over there with Steve Hill and
(13:01):
Jim Campbell and the rest of the JV teams, and
they come from the US and they have a very
very structured discipline approcess approach on how we go to market.
But we can't have that if we don't have the
right cars, and so that's been the real secret to it.
From a design, from a performance Matt you mentioned that
(13:22):
vehicle dynamics, integration, all those things have to be hitting,
you know, with with all success to be able to
run the pricing and the market share game. We've got
the one of the that I would say, we flutter
around the lowest incentive rates in the industry. That's a
big deal. GM hasn't done that in a long time.
(13:42):
So we're doing that gaining share, not changing our pricing.
So we're priced right. We have highly desirable cars, and
we're not fluttering around you know, high and low pricing,
cutting prices, slashing prices, discounting our vehicles because ovehicles are
highly desirable, and so that's a it's a good value
(14:04):
whatever the car is. And that's that's the real secret
between both regions.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
The I mean, the vehicles we normally talk about in
this podcast are the CT five V Black Wing from
Cadillac and all the corvettes from you know, Hannah's C
three's up to the E Ray that I love so much.
And of course we want to talk about the records
that you guys are breaking at the nurburg Ring. But
before we get off EV's I just want to talk
(14:29):
more a little bit more about the dynamics because I
love the Silverado EV that I drove in terms of
the way it actually performed. And I know you've set
another record there with I think over one thousand miles
of range in a Silverado EV. Plus you've got a
new a new trail boss that has like over seven
hundred horse power and rides on thirty five So what
(14:50):
do you expect from the Silverado platform EV wise? Matt, Yeah, yeah,
because because like Hannah said, like right now is a
tough time for the industry, so many people have turned
anti EV.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
But at the same.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Time, you're releasing like the greatest EVA really yes, and
people like me and I'm like you Mark, you know,
I'm a gearhead. I like to smell gasoline, I like
the vibes. But I'm being convinced by these products.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Well, it's great to hear, and I think if you
look at what we're doing portfolio wise, this is this
is a growth area for us if we do it right.
If we don't do it right, then we're going to
be into all the things that happen when you when
you don't have good EVS or you haven't changed your
EVS or too expensive. It goes on and on, right,
(15:36):
but if we get the right range, you know, over
three hundred miles on most products, and we have the
right price points, and again we have real integration. So
it's not you know, it's a great car number one,
number two, it may may happen to be an EV Philosophically,
that's what we've gone after. And you know, it works
and people see it, and you know, once you get
(15:58):
into being able to charge in a lot of different places,
including your home, that's a big deal. And I read
there was twenty five thousand additional superchargers in the United
States year to year, and so these are no longer
you know, finding Hen's teeth. They're becoming very very common.
And you know, my daughter, my youngest daughter drives the
(16:21):
Indiana for school, drives an EV and you know there
are multiple places, like if you're hungry or I have
to use the restroom, there's multiple places. And like you said,
you went from twenty percent to eighty percent Atavistic in
about ten minutes. That's pretty compelling, right.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Can I ask how this plan with Hyundai to jointly
develop vehicles feeds in to the overall strategy. I don't
think the vehicles you guys are developing together are for
the US, correct me if I'm wrong, But can you
explain a little bit about how that is part of
the strategy that you guys are running.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
Yes, we just announced that obviously for Central and South
America market primarily, but you know we're also looking for
a co development of an electric commercial ban from North America.
So it's a mix, Hannah, uh. And you know, these
are some things that you know, we're pretty disciplined with
capital on a on a yearly basis, year to year,
(17:23):
and so our discipline on capital forces us to make
the highest priority portfolio decisions first. But we have some
places in our portfolio we would like to fill in globally,
and so that's really the thinking behind it. And so
and they're they're there are places that are synergistic with
and DIE and so you know, for instance, they really
(17:44):
don't have a mid size pickup and then neither of
us have a hybrid propulsion system in a mid sized pickup.
And so then you look at a compact suv, you know,
they there's there's synergy both ways. Globally on that something
like that. We have those in North America, but you
know that that would be good, and then a car
(18:07):
might be a nice you know, we don't have many
cars left, we have a few, but a good sedan
would be highly desirable as well. So that's sort of
the thinking behind if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Are those going to be branded GM vehicles or or tv.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
D tb D because the co development we really haven't
talked about yet on who's got the lead on which products,
so we'll interesting well, uh, you know, yeah, so what
they're branded, and I don't mean you know, what we
sell will be branded General Motors, but it won't be
General Motors, it'll be a brand. So we haven't we
haven't settled on which GM brand. He and I has
(18:47):
obviously got a different strategy there. They don't have the
multiple brands you know, closely aligned with Kia obviously, but
they don't have the full portfolio of brands that we
do or the distribute set up like we do.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
So do you think that as we move deeper into
this world of tariffs and China really being competitive with
electric vehicles, will we see more and more of these
type of partnerships where two major manufacturers are actually working together.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
I think you've seen it, and I don't. I can't
come in on the success of it, but you've seen
it already on two pretty big manufacturers on EVS, right,
I think with Ford and b W that was one.
But I think on a relatively high cost of capital
situation that the industry and the world is in right
(19:40):
now lends itself to some some pretty synergistic discussions. But
I can't answer. I don't have a crystal ball. I
don't know if that if that radically changes through the industry,
but it certainly is something that that you know, maybe
accelerates the conversation.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
All right, Speaking of acceleration, let's get to these Corvette records.
Because you have been driving the the z R one
and the z R one X, or your engineers rather
have been driving them at the Nurburgring norch SLIFA, and
that's I think as big a part of the story
as the records themselves. The fact that you're not using
professional race car drivers to do six point fifty uh
(20:23):
six forty nine, I mean shattering records that probably anger
angers your crosstown rivals just a little bit there. So
tell us about these Corvettes, Mark and the drivers and
the drivers.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Yeah, the drivers are are are people that you know,
we infect I'm driving with them today out here on
on some some things, some other performance cards stuff. But
they they are at the core wonderful vehicle dynamics engineers
that are very good drivers. And so you know, this
(20:57):
story hasn't been told about how deeply committed and what
wonderful people they are, but also what wonderful engineers and
drivers they are. So I really Ken Morris started this
activity twenty years ago plus with the first Sigma based
CTS vehicles as we were developing the Sigma platform, so
(21:20):
he really started the development and validation that we do
over there. And you know, so that that's been going
on a while, and we've been building the performance piece
on Cadillac and Corvette over there as well.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
So what was that like the CTSV the.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
It was the original CTS if you can believe that, Yeah,
long time ago, and then of course we developed it
into the v's there, but yeah, the first ones. Yeah,
it's pretty pretty awesome. So it's been going on a
long time, and you know, we're there. We have our
own workshop there which is really nice and so you know,
we finally put the business case together that shipping all
(21:57):
the parts and cars over there and renting drive space
probably wasn't great from a business standpoint, So we ended
up facilitating a pretty nice space where we can keep
our our parts libraries for development and then you know,
shipping cars. Well you saw the video probably, but the
shipping the cars there is hard enough, right and getting
(22:19):
a weather window and so all that stuff has to
be synced up. So it's not an easy trip to
set records, but it's a lot easier to go over
there during the industry pool and develop, which you know,
myself and and Ken and the whole team do that,
and and we did that pretty recently before we went
over and those guys went and set the record and
(22:43):
I couldn't go because Michael Simkov was retiring and I
wasn't gonna miss his retirement party, so I stayed home,
but the rest of the team went and it was
just phenomenal, But you know, it wasn't it was I want.
I want people that had that much. I mean, as
I as I get older and I appreciate so much
(23:03):
the people we have, I really get a lot of satisfaction. Yes,
out of the records. It's great, but out've seen them
have their time in the sun doing this. It's really important,
and you know, it's all about the people at the
end of the day, and these these these guys are
I'm not sure anybody else has people like this, you know,
(23:25):
doing this.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Who are they?
Speaker 2 (23:27):
What are the names of the record setting drivers?
Speaker 4 (23:29):
Yeah, Drew Cautel did the six forty nine in the
zero one X and then Brian Wallace did the z
R one at six point fifty and then Aaron Link
did the ZO six at seven eleven. So those are
the three people and they're just.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Mark They're just engineers that have come up through They're
studied like electro mechanics or engineering or something. They're not
like NASCAR into guys, Oh.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
No at all. They started here and there their their
vehicle dynamics. You know, engineers is what they are, which
means it's a it's a term, it's an engineering term.
But what it really does is these people, uh, these
three engineers and people like them in our company anyway,
(24:20):
know how to integrate the car, so they know how
to set the car up. They know how to develop
that setup and they develop it. If you look at
the Corvette. We did this the other day for the
first time in a long time, is we drove the
whole portfolio. So these guys did everything from the base Corvette,
which is a sweetheart, right, Z fifty one, you know
LT two find really fun car all the way through
(24:44):
E ray, Z six, z R one to Z one X.
So they had seats doing the vehicle dynamics on all
of them. So each one of those cars is completely different,
and it's because of them and their knowledge of the
eight can deliver and they architect to the help out.
You know, they help architect the car and design the
(25:06):
car based on what we want these entries to do.
So it starts very early in the development process and
they continually develop those those you know five entries.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
So yeah, can we talk about what Cadillac is doing
in motorsport in general, and I think these records totally
feed into it. Obviously, you have the F one team
coming next year, which is so exciting. I know obviously
we've talked about this before, but your you are a
motorsports guy, Mark, it seems from the outside that we
(25:38):
are really on a high in terms of just motorsport
awareness in the country. In general. Are you seeing that
and how is that feeding back into the brand.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
We are. It's a great question, Hannah, because if you
look at I was looking at the I had a
motorsports meaning yesterday, and we looked at the activation that
happens therese different rays is actually around the world, and
then the conversion to sales and you know, you know,
if you go to a race and you go to
our stand and you look at the cars that were racing,
(26:10):
and you look at the cars that we're making, there's
a direct lineage on almost all of them, whether it's powertrain,
chassis design, whatever that is. You can see it. And
people people sign up to get more information around buying
a car, and then you track the funnel, if you will,
from the awareness to whether they register a car or not.
(26:32):
So we've got good data around that and that comes
from having great, great attendance, but also great interest in
motorsports across the country and frankly across the world. And
F one is really the pinnacle of that. You know,
over half of the fans and F one for instance,
are female, and so that's a tremendous, uh you know
(26:56):
statement there, because that is hardcore, you know, worldwide stage
and so but that's just one of them, you know,
one of the stats, and we see crowds whatever venue
we're racing in, and we're racing in just about all
of them. To some extent, we see a great, great
tie in for the brand. But also, you know, we
(27:18):
can make great cars, but if no one knows about them,
that's a problem, right, It's hard to sell cars. And
so this is a pretty much a core for us
to get brand awareness, to get people in our cars.
But it's also as you as you said, there's a
tie into what we produce, what we engineer, and what
we integrate, and it comes directly from that. Our Motorsports Center,
(27:39):
for instance, in Charlotte, North Carolina, is set up to
really develop all of our motorsports vehicles, powertrains teams with
Pontiac here and then are also core engineering of our
vehicles here in Detroit. So it's really quite wonderful. And
then of course we we are now spreading that to
(28:01):
Indiana and then into Silverstone in the UK. So there's
it's quite a wonderful footprint and you know a lot
of people come to want to come to work for
us because of it too.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
I have to say that, you know. So we saw you,
Hannah and I both saw you at Lamar at the Cadillac,
at the Cadillac station and watching that race. That was
honestly one of the best nights of my life, you know,
because you're there, and Gil West was there, and Dario
(28:35):
Francti was there, and we're just all hanging out like
the guys from Multi Mattic and the guys from Singer.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Watching this race through.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
The night was just unbelievable, And the Cadillac sounded better
than any of the cars out there. I just loved
it so much. Next year that's the Hypercar Entry. Of course,
next year Ford is entering that. And I've always wondered,
do you ever see like Jim Farley around at these things?
(29:03):
How competitive are you guys? Do you guys like not
talk to each other? Does he get super mad if
you if you break his Mustang GTD nerve burgering record.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Well, you saw what he wrote, so I don't think
that was mad or what.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
An he right, Mark, I didn't see it. I missed it.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
You said congratulations to the Corvette team game on.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
That's great, that's good. Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Good, healthy comminations, right.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
I mean, that's that's what it's supposed to be. That's
what it's all about. Right. So no, of course not.
We we saw each other at role X to kick
off the race season this year. I've seen Bill Ford
in quite a few races too, so that's nice and
h it's fun because it's not like that. It's for instance,
I chair the This is not widely known, but I
(29:51):
chair the Henry Ford Museum Board here in Detroit, and
so you know, I'm pretty pretty active in that and
I love the place, and you know, that's our that's
our museum, and so I'm honored to do that, and
it's you know, it's got got a lot of Ford involvement,
and so you know, it's a look, we compete every
(30:13):
day in sales and and with our companies, but no,
it's a you know, it's a small world.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
So yeah, now I gotta ask. We're going, of course
into Monterey Car Week next week, and I know Cadillac
will be there. I hear they're showing something of interest.
What can you tell us about what we're going to
see next week?
Speaker 4 (30:35):
Well, it's kind of like in Chevrolet, so you'll see
see some things that are pretty pretty remarkable.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
And yes I misspoke, Chevrolet, really this is this is
the point. Maybe we can we can edit that out,
but Chevrolet.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
H Yeah, Chevrolet will show a nod to the future,
and the nod will be not unlike what we did
with Celestic if you if you remember, the selected Celestic
for Cadillac was actually done before the rest of the
(31:11):
vehicle portfolio you see today. The reason why we did
it was to precisely define what the design language was
going to be for Cadillac as we transformed the brand.
And so a lot of that Celestic, as you see,
shows up in everything from Optic to Vistic to lyric,
(31:32):
even the ice, the i Q, the e V i Q,
and then you see it in starting to show up
in our ice ice products for Cadillac too. So there's
a consistency of brand. And so what you'll see I
think in Pebble Beach is a really remarkable set of
cars that hint to the design language is you'll see
(31:55):
on some of the incredible cars that show of length.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
A set I'm very much set of cars.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
This is good, I'm very much looking forward.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Two future cars. Good, that's what we got out of them.
From Chevy.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
Well, yeah, two concepts that we'll really have a nod
to the future. I think he'll be blown away.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Mark.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Can I ask about you know, we've talked to other
obviously GM executives and engineers on this program who kind
of shot down the idea of a Corvette SUV. But
the brand is strong enough I think you'd probably agree
to stand on its own and other you know, Lamborghini
and Portia and other sports car brands have done so
(32:40):
well with SUV's Ferrari. Why not make a Corvette suv.
It seems like people would buy it.
Speaker 4 (32:49):
Yeah, it's hard to say that people would buy it,
to be honest, I know there's interest in it, but
there's also interest in CTSV wagons.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Right, oh yes, it's sticks right.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
Right with sticks and those are I mean, I love
that stuff, I do. I just you know, it's it's
hard because Corvette is American sports car, and it's really
hard to make a derivative of that, at least right
now that that fits that. And so I think there's
(33:25):
there's much more to go on the c A platform
in terms of design and creating a new car, and
so I think that's really good and I just you know,
I don't want to lose what we have in terms
of a pure American sports car on it for now,
and I never say never, but it's pretty tough, you know,
(33:46):
because we have things like CTSVS right that are sedans
that are killer, right, and we have now the V
Lyrics right and the v Optics that are extremely fun
to drive, right, And so we've got we've got some
pretty pretty great, you know, more utility based performance vehicles
(34:07):
that I think uh are are are our great choices
as well. But for now, you know, Electrified with the
zero one X and the E Ray is a pretty
awesome deal that you don't have to plug in. And
then I'd say, you know, the we just announced we're
putting a new V eight into Tanawanda, and so you
(34:29):
know we're gonna there's gonna be some great power trains.
That's all I'm going to say.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
All Right, well, that's a good, good way to end it.
We'll look forward to seeing those in the future. Of
Mark Royce, thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
Yeah, thanks for joining us, and thanks for building those things.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
Thanks for having me on the show and and always
wonderful to Seaboat.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
That was really cool.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Uh. Yeah, his his answer on motorsports is the best
one that I got.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
I know, you know what I like about Mark. He
is plain spoken and he's diplomatic. He's not gonna tell
us what this cool uh you know world debut next
week is. He's he knows his rules, but he is
plain spoken.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
I'm looking to speak to it. There's gonna be so
many cool things at Monterey.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
You're so lucky. When are you actually gonna go?
Speaker 1 (35:20):
I will be driving up to Monterey next Wednesday. I'll
be driving in Mercedes SL my bock.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Wo yes, so the l I guess that's a convertible, right.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Yes, yeah, I'll be looking forward to seeing how that goes.
But yeah, going up Wednesday, and there are so many
debuts happening. I know you've sent a few that you're
excited about, Matt.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Well, I mean I'm excited about the you know, I
always like the kind of after market Seema show Winners
and Ring Brothers is going to show an aston Martin
that I'm super pumped up.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
That's going to be very cool. That's gonna be a SL.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Stands for sport light. Right, Yes, that's the idea, is it?
You think still that.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
No, No, I don't think so. You know, I drove
the new modern Essa that they launched I think twenty
twenty three, and this is the my Box version, which
is going to be heavier. Surely, surely it's going to
be heavier, but we don't care. It's going to be awesome.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Well, last time you drove to Monterey, you were in
the Lamborghini Rev welto.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Yeah, that was a steep, steep, stiff kick in the
pants with a ticket on that.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Hopefully four ticket, plus you hired a lawyer, plus you
got points.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
The lawyer couldn't even get me off. He couldn't, he
didn't get it reduced. He was kind of worthless in
the end. Actually that was a mistake, I know. So please,
I'm going to be on my best behavior on next Wednesday.
I'm going to be just driving like a grandma.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
So you go Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
What are the things you're most looking forward to? It's
a what whole week of events? You stay until Monday Tuesday?
Speaker 1 (37:03):
What I'm gonna you know what? I may drive back
on Sunday right after the concre or Monday morning. It
kind of depends on how Sunday goes and how how
tired and sunburned and hungover, I am after that. But yeah,
you know, there's the Motorlex Gala that Haggardy throws on
(37:23):
Wednesday night, which will be really cool and which anyone
who saw my stained glass piece on this really cool
fabricator who's putting stained glass windows in air cooled nine
to eleven's he will be showing some of his art
at the Motorlex Galus. So I'm excited about that Wednesday night,
and then that the broad Arrow auction is also Wednesday night,
that's a Haggarty event. And then throughout the week I'm
(37:44):
I actually am very excited to go to you know,
the RM auctions, the Good and Christie's auctions, just because
you know, we love talking about what cars we buy,
what's the market doing, so I'm really excited about that.
Of course, the Quail on Friday is where all of
the news and the debuts will be happening. I am
very excited now, I admit I've seen what Chevrolet will
(38:07):
be showing on Friday, and I'm excited for the world
to see. I can't say what it is because it's
under embargo, but I'm excited to see that car in
real life, and that day will be full of interviews
with executives, kind of like our conversation with Mark True.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
I have an interview on that day with the CEO
of Lamborghini and an interview the CEO of Bentley Adrian.
But they'll be but I'm going to be back here
in New York in the studio and they're going to
be live via satellite on my show.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Well that's better than nothing. And actually we have Sandra Button,
the chairman of Pebble Beach Concor, coming on TV today
to talk with Carol and Jess. So that's everyone's looking
forward to it. I think it'll be a great time.
I'm also going to be driving in the Pebble Beach Tour,
which will be really fun, which is on Thursday morning,
and that's when all of the show cars have to drive.
(39:00):
I have an actual route down the highway to sort
of prove that they're roadworthy, that they can actually drive.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
All right, I'm looking I'm looking forward to it, and
we will you and I will talk with Jim Farley,
the CEO of Ford from from Pebble Beach. That'll be
That'll be our hot pursuit addition for next week. So
have a fantastic weekend and week, and I look forward
(39:27):
to talking to you again next week.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
I'm Matt Miller, and I'm Hannah Elliott and dis Is
Bloomberg
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. I'm Matt Miller and
I'm Hannah Elliott, and this is Hot Pursuit.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
We have a very special guest for you this week.
President of General Motors Mark Royce joins us to talk
about a number of interesting things.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
But Corvette records, I think are front and front.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Center Corvette records for sure. Obviously GM has had a
rough few quarters, just like every other automaker, but you
and I have business wise, yeah, business wise, but you know,
you and I both have driven recent GM products, recent
GM EV products, and we've actually been pleasantly surprised, I
think on both of us.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I definitely have I feel like.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Every time I get into an EV or I really
that I'm gonna be delivered an EV to test out,
I'm like, kind of I'm not bummed out, but I'm
just like not excited. And then I drive them. And
at first, of course they were fast and the torque
instant torque was kind of fun. But I've really started
to notice that I like the driving dynamics of the
(01:19):
newer ones, and charging them isn't as much of a
pain in the ass as it had been in the past. Certainly, faster,
and I know more about how it works. So the
learning curve it's pretty steep, but once you get there,
it's just not as bad as I have always thought.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
It would be.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah, I think it'll be very interesting to see if,
like as popular opinion sort of cool somewhat on EVS
at the moment, whether these good products get lost in
that attitude shift or not, Like, can GM have the
staying power and obviously they have strategies like making some
(02:01):
vehicles with Hyundai for instance, can they sort of ride
out this momentary dip in the cooling of interests in EVS.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I wonder if the whole industry can ride it at Yes,
I've been thinking about this all week.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
I wonder Ferrari, it's temporary.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
It's temporary.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
But is there is there anyone who's buying evs now
who wasn't isn't an early adopter see that?
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I don't think so. I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
I don't think so unless you're someone like like, we
get a chance to test drive these vehicles all the time,
but your average consumer maybe you can take a test
drive at a deal or for twenty minutes or an
hour max. So they don't get a chance to see
the benefits or learn the way we do, and I
wonder if it's gonna work out. I've always said I'm
(02:45):
sure EV's are gonna be the future, but are they really?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Is it gonna you know?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I also think there's real differentiation because you know, I
loved the Dodge Charger EV. I loved the driving dynamics,
I love the styling, but at the end of the day,
it gets far less than two hundred miles to a charge,
So I'm not gonna buy that.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
At the end of the day. Maybe that's your second EV.
And how many people are buying two EV's not a lot,
but like maybe the Dodge is your second EV on
top of one that does have more range.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Well, the thing is, I've noticed that these GM vehicles
have a ton more range than almost everyone else. I
can't remember what the EV nine was and that was
I think pretty impressive, but.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I think it was around three.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
So that's that's the mark you've got to hit.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
And totally they're getting that with the Silverado, EV, with
the Hummer, with the Cadillac and now recently I've driven
the Blazer and the Vistick and they all had that.
I don't think the Vistick was quite as much, but
they had these giant two hundred kilowat hour battery packs
around there, and that just gives you monstrous range.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, the Optic has I think two hundred or sorry,
three hundred and two miles and I had zero anxiety
driving that thing. And I had it for a week
and I drove all I would find reasons to drive it,
which says a lot, because usually I am not wanting
to charge, not wanting to drive them because it's a hassle.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
But well, there just seem to be so many more
EV's now to choose from that whole list of GM
EV's I've driven in the past couple of months, and
I have coming up. I have the new Ix to
drive from BMW. I have the new Macon coming from Portia.
(04:28):
I have I'm finally going to drive a Rivian like
you know, three years later coming up.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
So I have a lot of evs stacked.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Wow. I mean, did you ever think you'd be here, Matt?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
No, And I mean the funny thing is, the more
I drive them, the more I think, uh, maybe I
buy one as a family. There's so many more family cars, right,
I'm looking for I'm waiting for. And I talked to
Jim Farley a couple weeks ago and he said, they're
eventually coming out with this three row EV, and if
they do a super duty version of it, then I'm
(04:59):
in because I want.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
A super duty three row EV.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
But they haven't made a super duty EV since super
duty three row since, you know, for an ice vehicle,
since the Excursion for Ford, and there used to be
a super duty version of the suburban. But there's no
super duty three row right now.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
So you would consider an EV as the primary family vehicle.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Yeah, I would for sure.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Wow Wow, Yeah, because you leave it plugged in at
your house then when you want to take a trip.
I've I've realized how superchargers are, high speed chargers work,
and I know how to find them, so I'm not
as worried as I used to be about it.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah. That's interesting because I used to kind of think, Okay,
most people are going to have a combustion vehicle as
their primary car, and then they might have an EV,
but they want the stability and safety emotionally speaking of
something that runs on gasoline.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Now for me, it's flipped interesting, right, I will be
in the next couple of years. Happy to have an
ev as.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
The family as the grocery getter, but I'm going to
have you know, a fire breathing.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Well that car that is actually if we're talking like
long term, that's what everybody has said about these fun
sports cars that we all like to drive, like you know,
air cooled Porsches for instance. We don't need those cars,
but we still have them around because they're fun to drive,
and they have personality and character. And there's the argument that,
you know, internal combustion will never completely go away because
(06:28):
there will be hobbyists an enthusiast who maintain the cars
at a reduced level as simply weekend fun toys.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
I prefer the term enthusiast.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
I hope no one ever calls me a hobbyist, hobbyist, enthusiast.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Young me would have hated it. Old me was going
to be a hobbyist.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
All right, let's get to this interview then, with Mark Royce,
the president of General Motors. I'm really happy to have
you Mark. I'm obviously we're both huge fans of your products.
That you know, Hannah has actually bought a number of Corvettes,
and uh.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
It's true this is true.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I just got out of the Cadillac Vistick as well,
which totally impressed me. And I have to say more
and more, I'm enjoying my time in evs, which is
shocking to anyone who knows me to hear that come
out of my mouth. But I wonder what you think
about the the evolution of you know, the driving capabilities
of your electric vehicles.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
That's a great, great question, because I'm with you. I
just bought a Vistick, you know, and I have three
kids and now they're they're having boyfriend's girlfriends and spouses
and now a grand child on the way very shortly.
So we're you know, we we we we have one
of our big SUV's and I just traded in as
(07:52):
a twenty one for a new Vestic. And I have
to say, you know, the more I'm in that type
of vehicle, the more I joy it. And you know,
the one I bought has air ride and four wheel steer,
and you know, it's everything. It's really everything you could imagine,
and the fuel economy and the range is right in there,
you know, at over three hundred and almost all of them,
(08:14):
in fact, all of them. It's really not a compromise anymore.
And they're fun to drive, and they're beautifully quiet, and
especially that the Cadillacs are, you know, everything the Cadillacts
should be, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I mean even even the Chevy Blazer EV.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
I drove the SS version and I had a longer
trip to make in it, and my wife was a
little bit nervous about, you know, doing four hundred miles
in electric vehicle, but the car knew where the next
supercharger was. It took us literally twelve minutes to charge
from twenty percent to eighty percent, and it was like
such a great uh.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
We used to call it a sleeper.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Right, a big station wagon that you don't know is
going to be a super fast ride for like an
Autobahn journey. So I just more and more often as
we get the variety. I'm really impressed by the driving
characteristics of these vehicles.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
It's great you say that, because I would say that
this has been written as well by other people like yourself,
that our vehicle dynamics and our integration is world class.
It's it could be the best in the industry. And
I think you see it when we have engineers like
the ones that set the times at the Ring A
combined you know, they're a combined experience level of thirty
(09:34):
six years, and so you know these that's what they
do and that's all they do in fact them out
here today at the proving grounds, we spend about five
hours every Friday looking at every single car and every
stage of development, and we pick, you know, a target
to beat in segment and so we do that and
so there's no surprise when we launch that we're going
(09:57):
to get good reviews. And so we've been doing that
for quite a while. But that's really part of the
deal is you know, there's five or six of us
that that ride every car, with every chief engineer and
the development team and you know, the whole integration team
out here every week, and so I think it's really
a big competitive advantage. So I'm happy you recognize that mark.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
We just this week ran my review of the Optic,
which I also thought was really solid, and I remember
when that car first debuted. Hun Kim was telling me that,
you know, GM has seen an increase of younger buyers,
and by younger, we're talking like maybe around forty or
younger than that. Is that who you find buying vehicles
(10:45):
like the Optic and the Vistick, is it typically a
younger buyer or not necessarily.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
I think if you look at Cadillac as a whole,
we're under you know, this is a this has been
a long journey to transform the brand, and you know,
the portfolio on the commitment that the company has put
behind it, both in people and products, is beginning to
tell that story. And I would say that, you know,
if you look at the demographics of Cadillac along with Buick,
(11:14):
we're seeing an influx of younger people and it's changing
the ages, but it's also conquesting. And so you know,
we're running about seventy percent conquest on our Cadillac evs,
Which that's a great story right there, right Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
I mean it's interesting to me because obviously this is
a really difficult time in the automotive industry. I know,
profits have really suffered, but I also read that sales
are up in the US for GM and in China.
Can you talk about that duality that you know, it's
(11:51):
very challenging out there right now, but also like sales
are up, that's.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
Right, Yeah, We've we've gained share for you know, several
quarters now and we're running over seventeen percent in the US,
which is a really good healthy share for US. And
then if you look at the utilization of capacity, we're
increasing that as we look at different footprints of different
cars as we introduce them. So that's a positive thing too.
(12:17):
And if you look at that along with China and
you look at the turnaround that we have going on
in China, it's really a matching supply and demand fundamentally,
but also the discipline and pricing. You know, there's people
that will raise prices amidst the tariff structure that we're
(12:39):
seeing unfold. We're not doing that. We have at the
end of the day, extremely desirable vehicles and it all
gets down to product. And that's both in China and here.
And the pricing discipline in China and the commercial piece
of that has seen a seismic change. So we've got
a new team team over there with Steve Hill and
(13:01):
Jim Campbell and the rest of the JV teams, and
they come from the US and they have a very
very structured discipline approcess approach on how we go to market.
But we can't have that if we don't have the
right cars, and so that's been the real secret to it.
From a design, from a performance Matt you mentioned that
(13:22):
vehicle dynamics, integration, all those things have to be hitting,
you know, with with all success to be able to
run the pricing and the market share game. We've got
the one of the that I would say, we flutter
around the lowest incentive rates in the industry. That's a
big deal. GM hasn't done that in a long time.
(13:42):
So we're doing that gaining share, not changing our pricing.
So we're priced right. We have highly desirable cars, and
we're not fluttering around you know, high and low pricing,
cutting prices, slashing prices, discounting our vehicles because ovehicles are
highly desirable, and so that's a it's a good value
(14:04):
whatever the car is. And that's that's the real secret
between both regions.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
The I mean, the vehicles we normally talk about in
this podcast are the CT five V Black Wing from
Cadillac and all the corvettes from you know, Hannah's C
three's up to the E Ray that I love so much.
And of course we want to talk about the records
that you guys are breaking at the nurburg Ring. But
before we get off EV's I just want to talk
(14:29):
more a little bit more about the dynamics because I
love the Silverado EV that I drove in terms of
the way it actually performed. And I know you've set
another record there with I think over one thousand miles
of range in a Silverado EV. Plus you've got a
new a new trail boss that has like over seven
hundred horse power and rides on thirty five So what
(14:50):
do you expect from the Silverado platform EV wise? Matt, Yeah, yeah,
because because like Hannah said, like right now is a
tough time for the industry, so many people have turned
anti EV.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
But at the same.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Time, you're releasing like the greatest EVA really yes, and
people like me and I'm like you Mark, you know,
I'm a gearhead. I like to smell gasoline, I like
the vibes. But I'm being convinced by these products.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Well, it's great to hear, and I think if you
look at what we're doing portfolio wise, this is this
is a growth area for us if we do it right.
If we don't do it right, then we're going to
be into all the things that happen when you when
you don't have good EVS or you haven't changed your
EVS or too expensive. It goes on and on, right,
(15:36):
but if we get the right range, you know, over
three hundred miles on most products, and we have the
right price points, and again we have real integration. So
it's not you know, it's a great car number one,
number two, it may may happen to be an EV Philosophically,
that's what we've gone after. And you know, it works
and people see it, and you know, once you get
(15:58):
into being able to charge in a lot of different places,
including your home, that's a big deal. And I read
there was twenty five thousand additional superchargers in the United
States year to year, and so these are no longer
you know, finding Hen's teeth. They're becoming very very common.
And you know, my daughter, my youngest daughter drives the
(16:21):
Indiana for school, drives an EV and you know there
are multiple places, like if you're hungry or I have
to use the restroom, there's multiple places. And like you said,
you went from twenty percent to eighty percent Atavistic in
about ten minutes. That's pretty compelling, right.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Can I ask how this plan with Hyundai to jointly
develop vehicles feeds in to the overall strategy. I don't
think the vehicles you guys are developing together are for
the US, correct me if I'm wrong, But can you
explain a little bit about how that is part of
the strategy that you guys are running.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
Yes, we just announced that obviously for Central and South
America market primarily, but you know we're also looking for
a co development of an electric commercial ban from North America.
So it's a mix, Hannah, uh. And you know, these
are some things that you know, we're pretty disciplined with
capital on a on a yearly basis, year to year,
(17:23):
and so our discipline on capital forces us to make
the highest priority portfolio decisions first. But we have some
places in our portfolio we would like to fill in globally,
and so that's really the thinking behind it. And so
and they're they're there are places that are synergistic with
and DIE and so you know, for instance, they really
(17:44):
don't have a mid size pickup and then neither of
us have a hybrid propulsion system in a mid sized pickup.
And so then you look at a compact suv, you know,
they there's there's synergy both ways. Globally on that something
like that. We have those in North America, but you
know that that would be good, and then a car
(18:07):
might be a nice you know, we don't have many
cars left, we have a few, but a good sedan
would be highly desirable as well. So that's sort of
the thinking behind if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Are those going to be branded GM vehicles or or tv.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
D tb D because the co development we really haven't
talked about yet on who's got the lead on which products,
so we'll interesting well, uh, you know, yeah, so what
they're branded, and I don't mean you know, what we
sell will be branded General Motors, but it won't be
General Motors, it'll be a brand. So we haven't we
haven't settled on which GM brand. He and I has
(18:47):
obviously got a different strategy there. They don't have the
multiple brands you know, closely aligned with Kia obviously, but
they don't have the full portfolio of brands that we
do or the distribute set up like we do.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
So do you think that as we move deeper into
this world of tariffs and China really being competitive with
electric vehicles, will we see more and more of these
type of partnerships where two major manufacturers are actually working together.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
I think you've seen it, and I don't. I can't
come in on the success of it, but you've seen
it already on two pretty big manufacturers on EVS, right,
I think with Ford and b W that was one.
But I think on a relatively high cost of capital
situation that the industry and the world is in right
(19:40):
now lends itself to some some pretty synergistic discussions. But
I can't answer. I don't have a crystal ball. I
don't know if that if that radically changes through the industry,
but it certainly is something that that you know, maybe
accelerates the conversation.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
All right, Speaking of acceleration, let's get to these Corvette records.
Because you have been driving the the z R one
and the z R one X, or your engineers rather
have been driving them at the Nurburgring norch SLIFA, and
that's I think as big a part of the story
as the records themselves. The fact that you're not using
professional race car drivers to do six point fifty uh
(20:23):
six forty nine, I mean shattering records that probably anger
angers your crosstown rivals just a little bit there. So
tell us about these Corvettes, Mark and the drivers and
the drivers.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Yeah, the drivers are are are people that you know,
we infect I'm driving with them today out here on
on some some things, some other performance cards stuff. But
they they are at the core wonderful vehicle dynamics engineers
that are very good drivers. And so you know, this
(20:57):
story hasn't been told about how deeply committed and what
wonderful people they are, but also what wonderful engineers and
drivers they are. So I really Ken Morris started this
activity twenty years ago plus with the first Sigma based
CTS vehicles as we were developing the Sigma platform, so
(21:20):
he really started the development and validation that we do
over there. And you know, so that that's been going
on a while, and we've been building the performance piece
on Cadillac and Corvette over there as well.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
So what was that like the CTSV the.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
It was the original CTS if you can believe that, Yeah,
long time ago, and then of course we developed it
into the v's there, but yeah, the first ones. Yeah,
it's pretty pretty awesome. So it's been going on a
long time, and you know, we're there. We have our
own workshop there which is really nice and so you know,
we finally put the business case together that shipping all
(21:57):
the parts and cars over there and renting drive space
probably wasn't great from a business standpoint, So we ended
up facilitating a pretty nice space where we can keep
our our parts libraries for development and then you know,
shipping cars. Well you saw the video probably, but the
shipping the cars there is hard enough, right and getting
(22:19):
a weather window and so all that stuff has to
be synced up. So it's not an easy trip to
set records, but it's a lot easier to go over
there during the industry pool and develop, which you know,
myself and and Ken and the whole team do that,
and and we did that pretty recently before we went
over and those guys went and set the record and
(22:43):
I couldn't go because Michael Simkov was retiring and I
wasn't gonna miss his retirement party, so I stayed home,
but the rest of the team went and it was
just phenomenal, But you know, it wasn't it was I want.
I want people that had that much. I mean, as
I as I get older and I appreciate so much
(23:03):
the people we have, I really get a lot of satisfaction. Yes,
out of the records. It's great, but out've seen them
have their time in the sun doing this. It's really important,
and you know, it's all about the people at the
end of the day, and these these these guys are
I'm not sure anybody else has people like this, you know,
(23:25):
doing this.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Who are they?
Speaker 2 (23:27):
What are the names of the record setting drivers?
Speaker 4 (23:29):
Yeah, Drew Cautel did the six forty nine in the
zero one X and then Brian Wallace did the z
R one at six point fifty and then Aaron Link
did the ZO six at seven eleven. So those are
the three people and they're just.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Mark They're just engineers that have come up through They're
studied like electro mechanics or engineering or something. They're not
like NASCAR into guys, Oh.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
No at all. They started here and there their their
vehicle dynamics. You know, engineers is what they are, which
means it's a it's a term, it's an engineering term.
But what it really does is these people, uh, these
three engineers and people like them in our company anyway,
(24:20):
know how to integrate the car, so they know how
to set the car up. They know how to develop
that setup and they develop it. If you look at
the Corvette. We did this the other day for the
first time in a long time, is we drove the
whole portfolio. So these guys did everything from the base Corvette,
which is a sweetheart, right, Z fifty one, you know
LT two find really fun car all the way through
(24:44):
E ray, Z six, z R one to Z one X.
So they had seats doing the vehicle dynamics on all
of them. So each one of those cars is completely different,
and it's because of them and their knowledge of the
eight can deliver and they architect to the help out.
You know, they help architect the car and design the
(25:06):
car based on what we want these entries to do.
So it starts very early in the development process and
they continually develop those those you know five entries.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
So yeah, can we talk about what Cadillac is doing
in motorsport in general, and I think these records totally
feed into it. Obviously, you have the F one team
coming next year, which is so exciting. I know obviously
we've talked about this before, but your you are a
motorsports guy, Mark, it seems from the outside that we
(25:38):
are really on a high in terms of just motorsport
awareness in the country. In general. Are you seeing that
and how is that feeding back into the brand.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
We are. It's a great question, Hannah, because if you
look at I was looking at the I had a
motorsports meaning yesterday, and we looked at the activation that
happens therese different rays is actually around the world, and
then the conversion to sales and you know, you know,
if you go to a race and you go to
our stand and you look at the cars that were racing,
(26:10):
and you look at the cars that we're making, there's
a direct lineage on almost all of them, whether it's powertrain,
chassis design, whatever that is. You can see it. And
people people sign up to get more information around buying
a car, and then you track the funnel, if you will,
from the awareness to whether they register a car or not.
(26:32):
So we've got good data around that and that comes
from having great, great attendance, but also great interest in
motorsports across the country and frankly across the world. And
F one is really the pinnacle of that. You know,
over half of the fans and F one for instance,
are female, and so that's a tremendous, uh you know
(26:56):
statement there, because that is hardcore, you know, worldwide stage
and so but that's just one of them, you know,
one of the stats, and we see crowds whatever venue
we're racing in, and we're racing in just about all
of them. To some extent, we see a great, great
tie in for the brand. But also, you know, we
(27:18):
can make great cars, but if no one knows about them,
that's a problem, right, It's hard to sell cars. And
so this is a pretty much a core for us
to get brand awareness, to get people in our cars.
But it's also as you as you said, there's a
tie into what we produce, what we engineer, and what
we integrate, and it comes directly from that. Our Motorsports Center,
(27:39):
for instance, in Charlotte, North Carolina, is set up to
really develop all of our motorsports vehicles, powertrains teams with
Pontiac here and then are also core engineering of our
vehicles here in Detroit. So it's really quite wonderful. And
then of course we we are now spreading that to
(28:01):
Indiana and then into Silverstone in the UK. So there's
it's quite a wonderful footprint and you know a lot
of people come to want to come to work for
us because of it too.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
I have to say that, you know. So we saw you,
Hannah and I both saw you at Lamar at the Cadillac,
at the Cadillac station and watching that race. That was
honestly one of the best nights of my life, you know,
because you're there, and Gil West was there, and Dario
(28:35):
Francti was there, and we're just all hanging out like
the guys from Multi Mattic and the guys from Singer.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Watching this race through.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
The night was just unbelievable, And the Cadillac sounded better
than any of the cars out there. I just loved
it so much. Next year that's the Hypercar Entry. Of course,
next year Ford is entering that. And I've always wondered,
do you ever see like Jim Farley around at these things?
(29:03):
How competitive are you guys? Do you guys like not
talk to each other? Does he get super mad if
you if you break his Mustang GTD nerve burgering record.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Well, you saw what he wrote, so I don't think
that was mad or what.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
An he right, Mark, I didn't see it. I missed it.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
You said congratulations to the Corvette team game on.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
That's great, that's good. Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Good, healthy comminations, right.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
I mean, that's that's what it's supposed to be. That's
what it's all about. Right. So no, of course not.
We we saw each other at role X to kick
off the race season this year. I've seen Bill Ford
in quite a few races too, so that's nice and
h it's fun because it's not like that. It's for instance,
I chair the This is not widely known, but I
(29:51):
chair the Henry Ford Museum Board here in Detroit, and
so you know, I'm pretty pretty active in that and
I love the place, and you know, that's our that's
our museum, and so I'm honored to do that, and
it's you know, it's got got a lot of Ford involvement,
and so you know, it's a look, we compete every
(30:13):
day in sales and and with our companies, but no,
it's a you know, it's a small world.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
So yeah, now I gotta ask. We're going, of course
into Monterey Car Week next week, and I know Cadillac
will be there. I hear they're showing something of interest.
What can you tell us about what we're going to
see next week?
Speaker 4 (30:35):
Well, it's kind of like in Chevrolet, so you'll see
see some things that are pretty pretty remarkable.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
And yes I misspoke, Chevrolet, really this is this is
the point. Maybe we can we can edit that out,
but Chevrolet.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
H Yeah, Chevrolet will show a nod to the future,
and the nod will be not unlike what we did
with Celestic if you if you remember, the selected Celestic
for Cadillac was actually done before the rest of the
(31:11):
vehicle portfolio you see today. The reason why we did
it was to precisely define what the design language was
going to be for Cadillac as we transformed the brand.
And so a lot of that Celestic, as you see,
shows up in everything from Optic to Vistic to lyric,
(31:32):
even the ice, the i Q, the e V i Q,
and then you see it in starting to show up
in our ice ice products for Cadillac too. So there's
a consistency of brand. And so what you'll see I
think in Pebble Beach is a really remarkable set of
cars that hint to the design language is you'll see
(31:55):
on some of the incredible cars that show of length.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
A set I'm very much set of cars.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
This is good, I'm very much looking forward.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Two future cars. Good, that's what we got out of them.
From Chevy.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
Well, yeah, two concepts that we'll really have a nod
to the future. I think he'll be blown away.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Mark.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Can I ask about you know, we've talked to other
obviously GM executives and engineers on this program who kind
of shot down the idea of a Corvette SUV. But
the brand is strong enough I think you'd probably agree
to stand on its own and other you know, Lamborghini
and Portia and other sports car brands have done so
(32:40):
well with SUV's Ferrari. Why not make a Corvette suv.
It seems like people would buy it.
Speaker 4 (32:49):
Yeah, it's hard to say that people would buy it,
to be honest, I know there's interest in it, but
there's also interest in CTSV wagons.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Right, oh yes, it's sticks right.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
Right with sticks and those are I mean, I love
that stuff, I do. I just you know, it's it's
hard because Corvette is American sports car, and it's really
hard to make a derivative of that, at least right
now that that fits that. And so I think there's
(33:25):
there's much more to go on the c A platform
in terms of design and creating a new car, and
so I think that's really good and I just you know,
I don't want to lose what we have in terms
of a pure American sports car on it for now,
and I never say never, but it's pretty tough, you know,
(33:46):
because we have things like CTSVS right that are sedans
that are killer, right, and we have now the V
Lyrics right and the v Optics that are extremely fun
to drive, right, And so we've got we've got some
pretty pretty great, you know, more utility based performance vehicles
(34:07):
that I think uh are are are our great choices
as well. But for now, you know, Electrified with the
zero one X and the E Ray is a pretty
awesome deal that you don't have to plug in. And
then I'd say, you know, the we just announced we're
putting a new V eight into Tanawanda, and so you
(34:29):
know we're gonna there's gonna be some great power trains.
That's all I'm going to say.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
All Right, well, that's a good, good way to end it.
We'll look forward to seeing those in the future. Of
Mark Royce, thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
Yeah, thanks for joining us, and thanks for building those things.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
Thanks for having me on the show and and always
wonderful to Seaboat.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
That was really cool.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Uh. Yeah, his his answer on motorsports is the best
one that I got.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
I know, you know what I like about Mark. He
is plain spoken and he's diplomatic. He's not gonna tell
us what this cool uh you know world debut next
week is. He's he knows his rules, but he is
plain spoken.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
I'm looking to speak to it. There's gonna be so
many cool things at Monterey.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
You're so lucky. When are you actually gonna go?
Speaker 1 (35:20):
I will be driving up to Monterey next Wednesday. I'll
be driving in Mercedes SL my bock.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Wo yes, so the l I guess that's a convertible, right.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Yes, yeah, I'll be looking forward to seeing how that goes.
But yeah, going up Wednesday, and there are so many
debuts happening. I know you've sent a few that you're
excited about, Matt.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Well, I mean I'm excited about the you know, I
always like the kind of after market Seema show Winners
and Ring Brothers is going to show an aston Martin
that I'm super pumped up.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
That's going to be very cool. That's gonna be a SL.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Stands for sport light. Right, Yes, that's the idea, is it?
You think still that.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
No, No, I don't think so. You know, I drove
the new modern Essa that they launched I think twenty
twenty three, and this is the my Box version, which
is going to be heavier. Surely, surely it's going to
be heavier, but we don't care. It's going to be awesome.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Well, last time you drove to Monterey, you were in
the Lamborghini Rev welto.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Yeah, that was a steep, steep, stiff kick in the
pants with a ticket on that.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Hopefully four ticket, plus you hired a lawyer, plus you
got points.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
The lawyer couldn't even get me off. He couldn't, he
didn't get it reduced. He was kind of worthless in
the end. Actually that was a mistake, I know. So please,
I'm going to be on my best behavior on next Wednesday.
I'm going to be just driving like a grandma.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
So you go Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
What are the things you're most looking forward to? It's
a what whole week of events? You stay until Monday Tuesday?
Speaker 1 (37:03):
What I'm gonna you know what? I may drive back
on Sunday right after the concre or Monday morning. It
kind of depends on how Sunday goes and how how
tired and sunburned and hungover, I am after that. But yeah,
you know, there's the Motorlex Gala that Haggardy throws on
(37:23):
Wednesday night, which will be really cool and which anyone
who saw my stained glass piece on this really cool
fabricator who's putting stained glass windows in air cooled nine
to eleven's he will be showing some of his art
at the Motorlex Galus. So I'm excited about that Wednesday night,
and then that the broad Arrow auction is also Wednesday night,
that's a Haggarty event. And then throughout the week I'm
(37:44):
I actually am very excited to go to you know,
the RM auctions, the Good and Christie's auctions, just because
you know, we love talking about what cars we buy,
what's the market doing, so I'm really excited about that.
Of course, the Quail on Friday is where all of
the news and the debuts will be happening. I am
very excited now, I admit I've seen what Chevrolet will
(38:07):
be showing on Friday, and I'm excited for the world
to see. I can't say what it is because it's
under embargo, but I'm excited to see that car in
real life, and that day will be full of interviews
with executives, kind of like our conversation with Mark True.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
I have an interview on that day with the CEO
of Lamborghini and an interview the CEO of Bentley Adrian.
But they'll be but I'm going to be back here
in New York in the studio and they're going to
be live via satellite on my show.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Well that's better than nothing. And actually we have Sandra Button,
the chairman of Pebble Beach Concor, coming on TV today
to talk with Carol and Jess. So that's everyone's looking
forward to it. I think it'll be a great time.
I'm also going to be driving in the Pebble Beach Tour,
which will be really fun, which is on Thursday morning,
and that's when all of the show cars have to drive.
(39:00):
I have an actual route down the highway to sort
of prove that they're roadworthy, that they can actually drive.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
All right, I'm looking I'm looking forward to it, and
we will you and I will talk with Jim Farley,
the CEO of Ford from from Pebble Beach. That'll be
That'll be our hot pursuit addition for next week. So
have a fantastic weekend and week, and I look forward
(39:27):
to talking to you again next week.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
I'm Matt Miller, and I'm Hannah Elliott and dis Is
Bloomberg
Hosts And Creators
Hannah Elliott
Matt Miller
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