Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
An iconic American luxury brand is joining Formula One next year. GM's Cadillac team will make its debut with two superstar drivers, ten time Grand Prix winner Valteri Botas and six time Grand Prix winner Sergio Checko Perez here with us now is Cadillac f One CEO Dan Towis. It's great to
have you here with us. I'd love to first just get a little bit of a background check on how you got into this business, from running Gamebridge, from being an insurance executive to now running teams across NASCAR, IndyCar and starting next to year Formula one.
Yeah.
So it really started in sponsorship, you know, with the team and a partnership with Andretti. But then kind of when we look at TWG Global, the parent of our company, and what Mark Walter is built in a sports media company, we saw a thesis in motorsport to you know, to get involved, and you know it's really focused on Formula one,
but not just Formula One. It's really every major motorsport globally, from ULSTRAI, NBA supercars, to sports cars, NASCAR, Indiecar, Formulae and now Formula one, so we're very excited about that.
So it's it's I think really cool that you have the resume you do, because I was when I talked to Mark Royce, I asked him, how do you convert motorsports fans into buyers of Chevy's Cadillacs corvettes? What have you?
You know?
Because you run this insurance company and that's how you get your start here. I guess you've had great experience in doing those conversions. Now you hire people like Valcheri Botas. I want to take a look at the tweet that he put out this morning. This is a guy who not only is he an incredibly talented driver, obviously a Grand Prix winner, but he knows marketing too.
This is what he posted this more. I guess he gets it. He's a education to an American brand. Here.
Yeah, we're so excited about these two. I mean, they're both you know, characters. You know, they have storied careers in Formula one, but they're not done.
This is the next chapter. You know.
They're the chosen two for the Cadillac Formula One team to hit the grid in twenty twenty six, and we're super excited about them.
So how long are you giving the team before you expect that you're going to win a race or a championship.
No, it is going to be a process. I mean, Formula one is the pinnacle of motorsport. It's so difficult. The smallest difference can make a huge difference on track. But I think that's where their experience comes in. You know, we'll have over a thousand people working on this team, and so a lot of times people just think about the driver of the car. But it's a team sport, you know, and so that leadership and experience knowing what
to expect for a brand new team. So even though we have all these experienced people in Formula one, they've got to work together. We've got to build team chemistry, and so check O and Valtry, you know, are the perfect choice to help. You know, just bring that experience, get feedback on the car, get the team working together. They know what to expect, they've been there before.
So you're going to kick it off with Ferrari power trains. You bring your own Cadillac power trains in a few years down the road. But I'm guessing you're gonna have to pay almost half a billion dollars to get in and then what two point fifty a year?
How long until you think you can become champions?
You know it's going to take a few years, but we're very excited about that. We're committed to this process. It is a multi billion dollar investment in total. You know, we'll have over six hundred thousand square feet of manufacturing under roof in the US between Indianapolis and Charlotte, between the team and the power unit company and all those
people working together. We also have a base of operations in Silverston, so this is a global operation for Cadillac Formula one and so really when we hit the grid, you know, it's a new chassis and a new power unit next year, so it kind of mixes up the competitive landscape in Formula one, and so we get to figure out where, you know, where do we stack up
against these teams. None of these cars will have been on the track together when we get there, and then what I'll be looking at is what does our you know, what does our progress look like? What's the upward trajectory of that team? Because that really gets to the question of how long till we run a race? You know,
how long till we get on a podium. But the ambitions for this team are high and the resources are tremendous, and so together with General Motors, with Mark Royce and the tremendous team there, Mary and Mark, you know, we're going to be working hard to make sure that we're competing at the top of the food chain in Formula one.
I wonder what this means for the Cadillac brand, because all right, they have had in the past, I guess the Monster in the nineteen fifties at Lamar and of course I just went to Lamal this year to see them with Team Joda and their hypercar is amazing. But you don't you hadn't previously thought about them as a sports car brand. Obviously they had the CTSV and now they have the Black Wing, which are you know, Krem de la Crem.
But what do you think this does for Cadillac sales?
Well, I think it's they're really pushing technology and innovation, you know, with this news series of cars that they're that they're coming out with, and I think, you know, Cadillac continues to see their market share increasing, you know, wrap quite rapidly, So I think it's the perfect time for Cadillac to come into Formula one to really even start to push a younger demographic that we're seeing, you know,
the growth in Formula one and so and so. I think, as I've talked two fans, everyone has a Cadillac story, you know, and so there's a strong connection to that brand. So combined with the new products that Cadillac's coming out with, and then the relevancy of being in Formula one competing against Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, Aston, Martin and the likes, I think it's a It's a good combination for.
Cadillac and gonna be an amazing rivalry with Ford. I mean, I was thinking of Lamm about how cool it will be when Ford goes into the HyperCard. But that's only for like niche like totally dedicated car freaks. This is F one now, I mean, one of the most popular in America.
It's up there with NASCAR now, I think. And Ford's going to enter one next year too.
So how do you feel about that Crosstown rivalry GM versus.
You know, it's interesting, it's very different. I think Ford's partnership with Red Bull is at a much different level. I think what we have with GM. Here is is an equity partnership, not a sponsorship. They're integration, they're leading the power unit development, They're not assisting in the power unit development. So the participation of GM and Cadillac in
this versus Ford and Red Bull very very different. But yeah, you still have these American motorsport powers, automobile you know powers, you know, going.
Head to head.
But then when you think about you've got one in seven Americans that identify as a fan in Formula ones. That's over fifty million Americans say they're a fan of Formula one, but they're not yet watching races. So the real key is going to be how do we convert those fans into race watching fans. How do we convert them into Cadillac fans, which I think will then they'll see the bump in you know, in car sales.
All Right, I'm pretty excited.
I know you can you tell Katie, you can tell yes, Dan, thanks so much for joining us, Dan Towers there of Cadillac F one