Latest / Auto Collabs / Why Senator Bernie Moreno Believes in the Franchise Model | Live Interview From Public Policy Day

Transcript

Why Senator Bernie Moreno Believes in the Franchise Model | Live Interview From Public Policy Day · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  Uh, we're here with Senator Bernie Moreno, Ohio. Congratulations and thanks for giving us a few minutes. Of course. Absolutely. Thanks for having me.
• 0:07
  So, um, the question I wanna ask, you, you, uh, obviously had a successful campaign, a lot of dealer support from across the country.
• 0:14
  What is your word, now that you're kind of here, and you're kind of thinking of things, seeing a little, from a little bit higher up, what are you saying to dealers across the country?
• 0:21
  Where should their, uh, position of focus be to help the, the overall initiatives? We're really gonna put policies in place here in Washington, DC, that help your business. I would go long on the auto industry.
• 0:31
  I think the, uh, franchise model's gonna thrive. Look, at the end of the day, car dealers are very simple people. [laughs] [laughs] [laughs] One way to put it. We're not complicated. That's very true.
• 0:40
  We're not complicated. And like we- We want to s- [laughs] We wanna inventory cars that people want to buy. Yeah. We do not wanna inventory cars that people don't wanna buy. That's so simple.
• 0:50
  And if somebody wants to buy a purple electric car with a pink interior, it's the most beautiful car ever. Right. Uh, but look, people have spoken, and that's why the franchise model is so important.
• 1:01
  Uh, th- dealers are talking to consumers hundreds of thousands of times a day in showrooms. The customers are telling them. They're giving them the objections.
• 1:08
  Like, we, we listen to objections all day long, and car companies have a, a hard job already, which is to design, engineer, manufacture cars that they think people will want.
• 1:19
  So what they should be doing is listening to their dealers. The car company that does the best job of that is Toyota.
• 1:25
  Toyota spends enormous amounts of time listening to their dealers, not to argue with them, but to genuinely listen. Why? Because they know what's up.
• 1:34
  Yeah, as a senator, obviously, it's not just the, the auto side, but for you, being close to the consumer, the person, the, the, the, the affected person on the other side of it is extremely important.
• 1:45
  How are you keeping your ear to the ground, you know, n- now that you're in office, to make sure that, especially in auto, but also elsewhere, you're, you're paying attention to what the real needs are today and not the, you know, your perceived notion of what the needs are?
• 1:59
  Well, two ways. Number one, number one, never lose the connection with the car dealers. NADA is a phenomenal partner. They have a wide open office to, uh, a wide open door to my office.
• 2:09
  We talk to them on a very regular basis. Uh, we engage with all the car companies. Fr- Jim Farley and I had a great meeting, great guy. Awesome. Uh, so we're building those relationships to make sure we continue.
• 2:21
  And my youngest son is gonna be a dealer at the end of this year. Oh, congratulations. Oh, awesome. He'll, he'll be, uh, 26 years old, and be a Mercedes dealer. It's pretty cool. That's super cool. That's really cool.
• 2:30
  [laughs] Uh, we know everything's in session. You have to run. One question. Uh, you got here. What... Like, you're here. It's your first day. What surprised you the most? You know, I, I love cars.
• 2:42
  You know, I truly love cars. What I love about coming to auto shows, you get to meet a lot of people who love cars also, and it's not partisan. It's not age. It's not demographic. That's great.
• 2:52
  It's just what brings people together, like automobiles, and it's actually one reason I hit up, hit it up when I was talking up there. Autos represent freedom. Think about that 16-year-old.
• 3:03
  I don't know about you guys, s- 8:00 in the morning, s- turn 16 years old, let's go. Let's go. Yep. Let's go get that driver's license. Why? Because I now can go wherever I want, right? You can jump in your car.
• 3:15
  You don't have to worry about what flights are taking off or not taking off, congestion. You can just get in your car. It represents the spirit of freedom and adventure, and that will always be part of America's DNA.
• 3:28
  We didn't invent the automobile, but we invented what it became. And so when I come to auto shows, it's, it's that feeling, uh, that I get, and I, I just love it.
• 3:37
  Can you talk, one, uh, just a little bit, one of the conversations that you had on stage just a minute ago was particularly around manufacturing and incentim- incentivizing manufacturing.
• 3:46
  What are some of the long tail effects for the consumer, for the dealer, um, for the worker to incentivizing more and more manufacturing? You know, we're hearing about tariffs.
• 3:56
  We're hearing about, um, you know, incentives for just creating m- manufacturing here and, and rebates and incentives. What's the long tail of that that maybe people m- might not think of on, on that top rung?
• 4:07
  Well, when you're buying a car that's made in America, you're helping, uh, communities all over the country because it's not just the auto plant.
• 4:14
  It's the tier one, uh, suppliers, the tier two suppliers, the tier three suppliers, the ecosystem in those communities.
• 4:21
  Look, the auto industry has created more working-class jobs where a mom or a dad can afford to have one job, be able to go to that job, be able to provide for a family, own a home, own their own car, and retire debt-free and maybe take a vacation or two every once in a while.
• 4:38
  [laughs] I mean, that, that's what you're buying when you buy a car, so I... that's made here in America, and then we have to support that. Look, Henry Ford did it with the Model T, right? Right.
• 4:46
  Look, he paid his workers a lot more money. Why? Because creating that strong, vibrant middle class is just so incredibly important. But we've chased our car companies out of America.
• 4:57
  We've incentivized them to leave this country. Sure. If you travel to Mexico, I'll give you the best example. There's a city called Aguascalientes. It's in Mexico. How do you get there?
• 5:06
  You fly to Texas, and you go to the gate that says, "Middle of Nowhere, Mexico." [laughs] [laughs] And that's where it is.
• 5:11
  And yet you go there, and the entirety of that city was built on the backs of Lorain, Ohio, Dayton, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan, Flint, Michigan. And you go to those communities, and you have, uh, out-of-touch politicians.
• 5:25
  They go, "Well, maybe those people that were former car, uh, manufacturing people that were welders and builders, uh, they should be maybe tech coders." Like, no. Ugh, that's not what they're looking for.
• 5:35
  That's not the way this works. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? And it's a shame because they did nothing wrong. Like, in Lordstown, Ohio, it was one of the highest quality General Motors facilities in the entire country.
• 5:44
  You go to Lordstown, and you see the devastation that that plant closing, uh, wreaked upon that town. You go, "It's just wrong." Like, it's not necessary. So let's build cars here.
• 5:54
  Let's build great cars here in America, and if you take away the tether of losing 50 grand per car to sell an electric vehicle, can you imagine that? [laughs] How insane that is? It's unbelievable.
• 6:05
  And the government's saying, "No, no, do more of that." Look, my son just bought a Ford Raptor R. He had to wait six months. He's like a little kid waiting for that thing. Oh, yeah. Oh, I bet. It's a beast of a car.
• 6:15
  So it's on, pictures all over Instagram, the whole nine yards, right? [laughs] Exactly. And you know what he did? He walked by 100 Ford Lightnings. Wow, yeah. Right? Right. So look, make less Lightnings- That's your kid.
• 6:24
  You said he's 26, right? Yeah. Yeah. Make less Lightnings and make, make more Raptors, right? [laughs] It's an easy equation. It's not hard. [laughs] I'm not the smartest guy in the world. [laughs] [laughs] Just do that.
• 6:33
  And I think if we do... And by the way, Ford makes a fortune on that Raptor R, by the way. Absolutely, highest margin. Cars- One they kept making when they had supply shortages. Right. Right, yeah. Keep making those.
• 6:42
  So how do you make Ford healthier? Provide an environment where they can just do what customers want them to do. And by the way, consumers will always get it right. Government will always get it wrong.
• 6:50
  Well, Senator, uh, we're grateful to have you in office representing the car dealers, and, uh, we're grateful for your time today. First car dealer in the United States Senate, and I'll make car dealers proud.