{"id":27469,"date":"2021-06-13T09:07:32","date_gmt":"2021-06-13T13:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=27469"},"modified":"2021-06-13T09:07:32","modified_gmt":"2021-06-13T13:07:32","slug":"penske-upbeat-on-auto-industry-racing-an-all-electric-future-not-so-much","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2021\/06\/penske-upbeat-on-auto-industry-racing-an-all-electric-future-not-so-much","title":{"rendered":"Penske upbeat on auto industry, racing. An all-electric future? Not so much"},"content":{"rendered":"

Belle Isle\u00a0<\/em>\u2014 After a turbulent, COVID-cursed year that saw the Detroit auto industry shuttered, fan-free auto racing, and the cancellation of the Detroit Grand Prix, Roger Penske is bullish on the future of the auto industry.<\/p>\n

All-electric vehicles? Not so much.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had to do it again, we would still make the investment\u201d in IndyCar, said The Captain (as his troops fondly call him) in a wide-raging media interview Friday in the Team Penske trailer\u00a0in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix paddock.\u00a0Penske Entertainment Corporation bought IndyCar and its crown jewel, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in November 2019, just months before the coronavirus struck.<\/p>\n

\"Roger<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Motor racing is the intersection of the Penske auto empire that includes dealerships, Team Penske race teams, truck rentals, Indy, and the relentless technology transfer from racing to production vehicles.\u00a0But as governments from Washington state to England try to eliminate the gas engine by 2030, Penske does not see the\u00a0market\u00a0following suit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you’re going to see the world go all-electric,\u201d said the soft-spoken 84-year-old, whose corporate headquarters are just up the road in Bloomfield Hills. \u201cI think you\u2019ll see hybrid solutions in all kinds of transportation sectors. There will be mandates in some cities. (But) I don\u2019t see the market making a pivot and moving to 10-15% of market overnight.”<\/p>\n

IndyCar, for example, will not follow the lead of Formula E \u2014 featuring battery-powered open-wheel racers \u2014 which has attracted European manufacturers like Porsche and Jaguar as that continent\u2019s governments mandate battery-only transport. Instead, IndyCar engine makers Chevrolet and Honda \u2014 which have both pledged the elimination of gas engines in the next two decades \u2014 are developing a new generation of gas engines with hybrid-electric assist.<\/p>\n

NASCAR and IMSA \u2014 racing series where Team Penske competes (IMSA is on the show card this weekend with IndyCar) \u2014 are also moving to hybrid engines, not all-electric.<\/p>\n

\u201cFormula E hasn\u2019t gotten any money out of their investment,\u201d said Penske. \u201cThe manufacturers are focused on what motorsports they want to to be in. You need to have something in your brand that shows you can win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Penske says IndyCar is in talks with two other automakers to provide hybrid powertrains for IndyCar. He says that manufacturer prospects for IMSA\u2019s 2023 sportscar\u00a0prototype\u00a0LMDh class are even brighter with seven to eight automakers\u00a0(including Team Penske’s Porsche team<\/a>) interested in developing hybrid gas-electric racers.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIt will be quite a while before the ICE (internal combustion engine) is out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s buffet of car options seems to suit the market just fine, said Penske, as buyers \u2014 flush with cash after months in quarantine \u2014 are in a buying mood.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter COVID, and looking at supply right now, we can sell most anything,\u201d said Penske who owns dealerships across the country through his Penske Automotive Group and Penske Motor Group subsidiaries.<\/p>\n

That health in turn drives auto racing. Belle Isle is a testament to the healthy intersection of racing and the industry.<\/p>\n

After falling silent to race engines in 2020, the Detroit Grand Prix weekend is back this year without losing its primary sponsors. The series as a whole has maintained its top sponsors as well.<\/p>\n

For Penske, the Detroit GP is personal as well as business-related.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where I live,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re focused on autos. We have so many different relationships with the auto companies. In Detroit, you gotta\u00a0give back. It started back in 2006 with the Super Bowl.\u201d<\/p>\n

With COVID receding in the rear-view mirror, Penske\u2019s Detroit GP brought the venue back to life in just four weeks. Admission has been capped at one-third of normal attendance, but the GP is also the first major U.S. race to go maskless. Unlike other sports series, IndyCar and IMSA were not embroiled in political controversies over the last year.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThe die-hard fan is here,\u201d said Chairman Bud Denker.<\/p>\n

He and Penske see a bright road ahead after months of uncertainty. \u201cIndyCar is in a better position as a baseline than it\u2019s ever been,\u201d says The Captain.<\/p>\n

Still, even Penske said he had butterflies Memorial Day weekend as he \u2014 and a crowd of 135,000 \u2014 awaited the green flag at the Indianapolis\u00a0500.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they said \u2018gentlemen, start your engines,\u2019 I was shaking like a leaf,\u201d he smiled. \u201cIt was exciting to see the response of the crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Belle Isle\u00a0\u2014 After a turbulent, COVID-cursed year that saw the Detroit auto industry shuttered, fan-free auto racing, and the cancellation of the Detroit Grand Prix, Roger Penske is bullish on the future of the auto industry. All-electric vehicles? Not so much. \u201cIf I had to do it again, we would still make the investment\u201d in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27469"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27470,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27469\/revisions\/27470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}