President Obama’s former “Car Czar” Steven Rattner is coming to Toronto February 13 for the CADA Summit event armed with insider stories about how close the U.S. auto industry came to collapsing — and more importantly to share lessons learned about how to avoid it happening again.
So how close were we to a complete catastrophe?
“It was unbelievably close,” says Rattner, in an interview with Canadian auto dealer editor Todd Phillips. “I really did not know when I took the job, and probably didn’t really feel confident until close to the end of the companies coming out of bankruptcy whether it would work.”
Rattner said the officials working on the plan didn’t know, for example, whether consumers would still continue to buy cars during a bankruptcy. “There is no precedent for anything like this,” he says. “There were several moments where we either had to hold our breath or hold our hands and jump because we just did not know exactly what was going to come next.”
Rattner says he won’t pull punches when he talks about how the manufacturers got themselves into the mess. “Many of the problems that this industry faced were of its own making and were a failure of management — not some tsunami that came out of nowhere,” says Rattner.
Rattner will deliver one of the high profile keynote addresses at the CADA Summit being held Feb. 13 at the Hilton Toronto. (to view full agenda visit: www.cadasummit.ca/agenda).
Rattner was appointed to oversee the historic restructuring of the U.S. auto industry in 2009, and has been a popular figure in U.S. media circles and on the speaker’s circuit, sharing stories of what went on behind the scenes. He chronicled his experiences in his bestselling book: Overhaul: An Insider’s Account of the Obama Administration’s Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry.
“I will go through the crisis and how we approached it and what we did to solve it,” says Rattner. “Given that everyone in the audience has a big stake in the auto industry I thought they’d be interested in getting an inside look at how the rescue operation actually occurred, the problems we faced, the alternatives we thought about, and the decisions we finally made.”
Rattner says he will also look at how GM and Chrysler have performed “post rescue.”
“I will talk about what the prospects are for the companies and by implication for the industry and what I see as both the opportunities and the risks and what needs to be done,” he says. “I will end with a few lessons learned about things that might be useful for anyone in business to think about as they run their own business whether it’s in the auto industry or anything else.”
Rattner was also drawn into the mix during the U.S. Presidential election campaign itself when candidates were discussing their positions on the auto industry bailout. “I did find particularly that some of the stuff Governor Romney said was just not accurate so I wrote a number of posts and said a number of things about it during the election,” says Rattner.
“There is no question that the bailout or the rescue or whatever you like to call it was a difficult decision for the President to make,” says Rattner. “It was politically not popular when we did it. But if you look at the public opinion polls in the fullness of time, as people have seen how it’s worked out, the view of the public has shifted quite significantly and I think there is now pretty broad support for it, as you also saw in the election.”
Following Rattner’s morning keynote address, moderator Niel Hiscox, publisher of Canadian auto dealer, will moderate a question and answer session where dealers can ask Rattner their own questions. “I know Canada’s auto dealers will be keen to learn more about this important era in our industry’s history,” says Hiscox. “I know I certainly am. It’s a rare opportunity to hear from someone who was there first hand to witness these extraordinary events unfolding.”
Rattner says he’s looking forward to hearing questions from dealers at the CADA Summit.
Rattner is one of more than 20 speakers and panelists who will be featured at this one day summit aimed at helping Canadian dealers get a glimpse of what lies ahead so they can be better prepared. Another high profile U.S. keynote speaker is Bob Lutz, former vice-chairman of GM, and an auto industry insider who is highly regarded and whose views are much sought after.
Sessions at the CADA Summit range from updates on economic trends, retail and consumer trends, a panel of manufacturers featuring the Canadian leaders of Ford, VW and Kia, insights from the elite of Canada’s auto dealers — the CADA Laureates, perspectives from media pundits, and more.
Paul Clark, President & CEO, TD Auto Finance will present some economic insights as part of the morning session. TD Auto Finance is the exclusive CADA Summit sponsor.
To register visit: http://cadasummit.ca/registration.php
CADA officials report that many of the seats are already sold out for this limited seating event. With less than a month before the event, CADA is urging dealers and their senior staff to register now to avoid being disappointed when there are no spots available. They say the event’s content is aimed at dealer principals, general managers, sales managers and any senior dealership staff who will be involved in charting the future of their dealership.
For the record, “Car Czar” is a nickname Rattner inherited for his role but his formal title was Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury.
Rattner is currently the Chairman of Willett Advisors LLC, the investment arm for New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s personal and philanthropic assets. He is also a contributing writer for the op-ed page of The New York Times, authors a monthly column for the Financial Times and is an Economic Analyst for the MSNBC’s television program Morning Joe.
