The government has the leverage to set these requirements in part because of what happened in ’08 and ‘09. You chose to leave the business rather than be subjected to the changes that came with the bailout. How do you feel about developments in the American auto industry since then?
Well, I think the industry is the healthiest it’s been in decades, because all three companies have rediscovered the idea of product excellence. They’re enthusiastic about customer satisfaction, and that’s what was missing from the top ranks of the American business for the last 30 or 40 years. It was run basically by finance people.
     One of the finest things that the Administration did was to refinance Chrysler and General Motors with temporary government funding. It was not a politically popular move. A lot of people didn’t think it all the way through, like Mitt Romney. You and I would not like the world with the economy we would be living with today if we had let General Motors and Chrysler go down the tubes.

Do you regret not being there for these changes?
They were going to take me out sooner or later. I’ll be 80 in February. When I joined GM [as a 69-year-old], at the press conference, someone asked Rick Wagoner: “How do you reconcile this with General Motors’ mandatory retirement at age 65?”