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[applause]
The Vice President: Now, Mike gave me a credit
for being a voice for the automobile
industry in the White House.
I will not deny that, but John Dingell,
when I got elected, had a little electrode planted
in my ear so that he could directly talk
to me all the time to tell me exactly what to do.
I've never known a man who has been more supportive
of, better champion of, and more effective
in the support of the American automobile industry than
John Dingell, the dean.
John, thank you.
[applause]
What a difference five years makes.
Everything from the mood here at this auto show
in 2009 to what you faced back then.
The -- literally the likely collapse
of the automobile industry.
My mother -- my deceased wife used to say that
the greatest gift God gave mankind, and she meant
it, was the ability to forget.
I'm being serious.
Think about it.
The greatest gift is the ability to forget,
to forget the bad things and focus on the good.
The good news is the American public has
already forgotten how tough it was in seven,
eight, nine, and the good news is that we're back.
Car sales, when we took office -- it had nothing
to do with us -- in 2009 -- I don't mean this --
we were -- we get more credit sometimes than we deserve.
In 2009, they had plunged 40 percent
in a single year.
The supply chain was threatened with extinction
and for every employee -- those of you in the
automobile world know, for every one guy,
woman on the line, there's four people down
the line who are employed because there is a line.
Four people.
>> Audience Member: [inaudible]
>> The Vice President: Every employee in the
industry -- the industry lost 400,000 jobs in 2008.
And I'm glad that gentleman's hoarse,
because I can't hear him.
[laughter]
But I welcome his comments,
whatever they were.
But in -- 400,000 jobs in 2008 alone.
We stood on the brink losing well
over a million more.
As the CEO of Ford said -- Mulally.
He said, "If GM and Chrysler would have
gone into freefall, that could have taken the entire
supply base into freefall also and taken the U.S.
industry from recession -- the U.S.
from recession to depression."
It was a pretty tough spot, but fortunately
we and the American people placed a bet
on all of you sitting in front of me.
We bid on American ingenuity,
we bid on you, and we won.
We determined --
[applause]
And what was at the base of what John
used to talk about?
We determined that how could we --
and I mean this sincerely.
How could we possibly walk away from the iconic
industry of America?
When you go around the world, the one thing that
America was known for -- thought about all through
the 20th century -- automobiles and, toward
the end of this century, aircraft.
That's who we were.
I used to bristle at the assertion.
The economists would come in and we'd listen
to them all and very bright women and men, and they'd tell
us, "You know, you've got to lower your sights here.
The days when the automobile industry in
America would be producing 15 million cars a year and
selling them -- those days are gone.
We've got to lower our sights.
We've got to readjust.
And I know you -- if you go back and Google it as
they say, the press used to sometimes point out I
would repeat it -- repeat something ad nauseam that
they thought was overdone, and my response, "Where is
it written -- tell me one factual point where it
says America can't continue to lead the world
on automobile manufacturing?"
I mean it sincerely.
Where was it written?
What structurally changed in America?
Did we lose our genius?
Did we no longer have the most productive workers in
the world?
Were we not still the leader in the world in
technological change?
So why?
Why would we have to accommodate the notion
that we had to change?
But because of the difficult restructuring
management put Chrysler and General Motors through
and also the ingenuity and technology capability of
our designers and our engineers -- your
designers and engineers and I might add the
sacrifices made by the UAW to turn this whole thing
around, workers paid a real price.
They accepted plant closures, benefit cuts,
wage cuts and everyone knows these companies
wouldn't be existing today without all that
cumulative sacrifice made by everyone from car
dealers to UAW members.
But the sacrifices result in the success you see on
this floor today.
Since Chrysler and General Motors emerged from
bankruptcy, you've created 380,000 new jobs.
And by the way, these aren't just jobs.
These are middle class jobs, jobs upon which you
can raise a family.
All the economists out there -- they argue about
what's middle class?
Five -- $50,140 or 52 -- it's a value set.
It's not a number.
It's being able to own your home
and not just rent it.
It's being able to send your kid to a decent
school where they can walk to school, into a park
where they don't have to worry about their safety.
It's about being able to send them to college
if they do well enough in that school to get there
and be able to maybe help your parents
in the process and do well enough to hope your children
will never have to help you.
That's what middle class is.
That's what built this country.
But you need jobs, incomes to sustain that.
And you, the automobile industry, are back in the
business of not just building the best product
in the world, but creating those jobs.
The big three have come out of a lull of about
13 million vehicles sold in 2009 to over
17 million in 2012.
The '13 numbers aren't out yet.
[applause]
But remember, we were told we can't do this again.
Remember, John?
They told us we're not going to get there again.
Well, now who knows what the numbers
will be in '13.
U.S. vehicle exports went from
25 billion in 2009 to over
51 billion in 2012.
American trucks and cars are competitive
in every market in the world today and we're going
to make sure we get more competitive in Japan
if I have anything to do with it.
[applause]
We've gained back significant share
of the U.S.
auto market and as I said, you're competitive
around the world.
The federal government is no longer
an equity owner of General Motors and Chrysler,
which is a little sad because I'm the only guy that --
I made a commitment in 1972 when I ran that I'd never
own any stocks or bonds.
I never have.
That's why I'm listed as the poorest
kind of Congress.
For a minute there, John, I thought
I owned some stock.
You know, I thought, you know --
[laughter]
-- thought I felt like I owned something
for a change.
But all kidding aside, Chrysler's repaid
all of its federal loans six years ahead of schedule
and last month alone you created another
8,300 automotive jobs in the automotive industry.
I'm the son of an automobile man.
My dad managed two of the largest dealerships
in the state for over 35 years.
He never owned, but he managed them
and he was first rate.
I remember what my dad used to say.
In the good years and the bad, he said,
"Joey, all they've got to do is send me product.
Send me product.
Send me product."
You know, as you look around this floor today,
you're going to see everybody --
well, you already know.
You're producing the best product in the world.
It's safer, it's more stylish, it's more
economical, it's more fuel-efficient,
it's more powerful, and you're just getting started.
When the J.D.
Power report came out two years ago saying
the majority of Americans thought American
automobiles were better built than foreign
automobiles.
I -- some thought I was being a little crass.
I said, "My dad is sitting up in his grave going,
'Finally!
Finally.'
"
But we're back, and it's all across the big three.
Motor Trend last week -- the Corvette Z06 -- said,
quote, "Corvette Z06 shows that GM finally gets it."
JD Power calls Chrysler -- Mike Savage kidding
me because of my iPhone.
I subscribed to each of those magazines, [laughs].
Chrysler 200 -- a building block for a future filled
with competitive products sold on the merits rather
than the legacy.
Car and Driver said, "Competitors can't
hold a magnet to the latest F series."
All -- it goes on.
It goes on across the world.
American cars and trucks are once again changing
the game and, I might add, providing good, decent
jobs for families and generating hundreds
of thousands of jobs in ancillary industries
as a consequence of your growth.
Secretary Pritzker was here, I'm told, yesterday
and she said, quote, "When American businesses
are tested by a crisis, they adapt.
We experiment, we innovate,
and we come back stronger."
The truth is, we're not only back.
We're back stronger.
The American automotive industry isn't just back
like Detroit's going to come back,
but America's back, in part because you are.
Folks, there's an awful lot more to talk about.
I'd love to get into the details of some of the
vehicles here and the revolutionary improvements
made in materials and durability,
fuel efficiency.
You got pickup trucks with solar panels in the truck
bed, all electric vehicles that
redefine power and luxury.
But there's nothing but exciting prospects for the
automobile industry and all the spin-offs
it's generating.
But I've got to get back to Washington
for a national security meeting with the President
a little later and I'd love to spend more time with
you guys, but I'm a car junkie.
I want to go out on the floor.
[laughter]
I want to see some of these
vehicles you've built.
The new Ford 150 -- F-150, aluminum frame,
increase fuel efficiency.
But what's really good news about that
is River Rouge has 4,300 jobs and likely to keep those and
increase them as a consequence
of that product.
[applause]
I love that Cadillac ATS.
As a matter of fact, I love it so much,
my brother had the big engine four -- I think it's 426
-- 456 and it was very disheartening when
I realized he could blow my Corvette away.
But anyway, what I especially like
is the 500 jobs added to the plant in Lansing
and the Chrysler 200 had enough horsepower to bring back the
entire Sterling Heights plant along with 900 jobs.
[applause]
And guys, as I said to you,
I have a '67 Corvette original.
My dad didn't have a lot of money, but what he did,
he took my fiancée's automobile --
none of you are old enough to remember.
It used to be a -- it was a new Tempest --
Pontiac Tempest and my '51 Chevy Bel Air
and he said he was going to fix them
up for us for a wedding gift.
And then the day before the wedding,
he had us drive in and came under the portico of the
dealership and there was a brand new 1967 327, 350,
good wood green, two top convertible waiting
there for -- as a wedding gift.
Well, I still have it.
I still have it.
And I had it rebuilt several years ago, though
I still have the original sticker -- $5,900.
It cost five times that much to rebuild it.
[laughter]
But I still love it.
But the downside is it's sitting in my garage.
And one of the downsides is that as Vice President
of the United States, you're
not allowed to drive.
And so my sons, who are grown men, even after
having it rebuilt 10 years ago, it still --
the engine needed to be fixed up a little bit
and -- from having driven it and a new clutch.
And so they did that as a Christmas gift
for me last year.
And it sat down there in that garage and I chart
it up and tack it up and it -- you know,
if you know that gurgling sound.
And it's finally -- I pulled
it out of the driveway.
I have a long driveway where I live.
And I said to the chief agent -- I said,
"Look, either get in the passenger seat
with me or shoot me, because I'm moving."
[laughter]
And I laid about 60 feet of rubber
up my driveway and these guys are still talking about what the
hell's the matter with that guy?
[laughter]
I shouldn't be saying this probably.
But --
[laughter]
-- you know, and I just want you to know that '67
with zero to 60 in 5.5 seconds --
I didn't do that, John, but it was.
But this new Corvette Z06 is zero
to 60 allegedly in 3.4 seconds.
I don't know that.
Apparently they -- you all at GM haven't fully
unveiled that, but I hear that may be the case.
And it can take slalom faster and corner harder
than the Porsche.
I love the headline I wrote down.
If you excuse my -- now this was in Car and
Driver, the January issue.
It says, quote, "Corvette Z06, part ZR1,
part throw down for Porsche.
The track's worthiest 'Vette gets forced
induction and gobs of race car tech."
Now, you know, that old Corvette --
that rear end, it wasn't -- you know, it wasn't what
you'd call stable, right?
But they tell me this new one, man,
can take the Porsche.
I'm counting on it.
But at any rate --
[laughter]
But anyways, guys, I love you,
but I want to go see some of these vehicles.
I just wanted to come and say that -- thank you.
Thank you.
We get credit, the president gets credit
and he deserves it, and John gets credit and deserves
it, but the truth is the reason
why the industry's back is all of you.
It's back because of the sacrifices you've made but
it's even more importantly back because
we still have the most innovative minds in the world.
We still have the best engineers in the world.
We still have the best tech people in the world.
We still have the most
entrepreneurial instincts in the world.
We.
We.
No other country.
No other country.
As they used to say, my neighbor,
"This is a patch on our jeans."
This is going to be the
American century in manufacturing.
Mark my words.
Not just in automobiles, but manufacturing's
coming back to America.
It's coming back because we have a legal system
that protects people's contracts rights,
where intellectual property is protected, where we have
the finest research universities in the world,
where we produce the single best technological
capability the world has ever seen.
Think about it guys.
Name any other countries producing engineers and
scientists where they're -- as a worldwide brand,
they're associated with.
Ladies and gentlemen, I was recently in Singapore
and one of the guys who's viewed as one
of the wisest in the world that every world leader sort
of stops by and sees -- he's 92 years old.
His name is Lee Kuan Yew and he's an expert
on an awful lot of things and he's somewhat frail now,
but his mind is really sharp.
And he said to me -- so I asked to see him
and met with him, and I met with him about
an hour and a half, John.
And at one point I asked him -- I said,
"Mr. President" -- former president.
I said, "What is China doing now?"
And by the way, we want to see China succeed.
I want to see China succeed and do well
because it's a market for the United States
of America and I want to see them stable
and they're good people.
But I said, "What's China doing now?"
And he said something fascinating to me, John.
He speaks perfect English.
He said, "China is an America trying to find
that black box that's buried."
And I looked at him.
This is literally true.
I said, "Now, Mr. President.
The black box."
He said, "Yes.
That box that contains the secret that enables
America to be the only country in the world
that can constantly remake itself."
And I said, "Well, I can tell them what's
in that black box.
Two things.
A constant flow of new immigrants, new ideas,
and new cultures enriching this culture and something
stamped into the DNA of every American,
whether they're naturalized or native born.
This is the only country in the world from
the time our children are raised, they're taught
to challenge orthodoxy -- to challenge orthodoxy.
Only new -- fundamentally new things can happen
by moving beyond the old."
You in the automobile industry are part of that
legacy.
You're leading us back and we thank you for it.
Thank you for your ingenuity,
your entrepreneurship, and your absolute commitment to
once again making America the automotive capital
of the world.
It's a delight to be with you all.
Thank you very much.
[applause]