President Barack Obama will highlight a record year of sales from the auto industry later this month when he visits the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, he announced in his weekly address Saturday.
In the address, Obama touted the turnaround of the auto industry since he took office in 2009, when the industry was under the threat of collapse.
“Some said it was too late to turn things around. But I refused to turn my back on so many of the workers that I’d met.” Obama said Saturday. “Instead, I placed my bet on American workers. I placed my bet on American manufacturing.”
This week, automakers reported another month of strong sales in December, taking full-year sales to nearly 17.5 million cars and trucks, according to figures from sales tracker Autodata. That’s up about 6% from 2014 and just edged out the previous record of 17.4 million set in 2000.
Obama acknowledged that while his plan in 2009 was not popular, he would make the same bet again “any day of the week.”
In 2009, GM and Chrysler were teetering on collapse when the Obama administration effectively forced both automakers into bankruptcy, lending them enough to survive. Since the bailout, both have repaid their outstanding loans to the U.S. Treasury.
The North American International Auto Show runs from January 11-24.