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Episode #1080: Today we’re talking about winners - how Roger Penske was honored with the Automotive News Centennial Award, how 14 states have won back $5B in EV charging funs and how Meta and Anthropic both won copyright lawsuits.

Show Notes with links:

• Auto and racing icon Roger Penske received the Automotive News Centennial Award, and shows no signs of slowing down despite being 88. He reflected on six decades of building a business empire by putting people first.
  • He credits a coin from his father inscribed “Effort equals results” as a lifelong guiding principle.
  • Penske said focusing on people over products is key, calling it the “secret sauce” behind building an organization with 74,000 employees.
  • Nearly all leadership growth at Penske is internal—95% of management moves are promotions.
  • He raised concerns over the future of the dealer franchise model, warning that direct-to-consumer shifts could undermine the system if not addressed individually.
  • He described Elon Musk as a great industry disrupter saying ““Musk came in here and did an amazing job. He turned the industry on its head.””

• A federal judge in Seattle has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from axing billions in EV charging funds to 14 states, ruling that the states are likely to win their case.
  • The Biden-era $5B EV charger program was frozen in February, with state plans rescinded.
  • Judge Tana Lin ruled that withholding the funds likely violated federal law, harming states that invested in infrastructure expecting federal support.
  • The injunction gives the Trump administration seven days to appeal.

• Two federal judges delivered back-to-back wins for AI developers this week, siding with Anthropic and Meta in copyright lawsuits brought by authors. While both rulings support “fair use” in AI training, the door remains open for future legal challenges.
  • In the Anthropic case, Judge Alsup ruled the company could legally train AI on physical books it bought and digitized, calling it “transformative — spectacularly so.”
  • He drew the line at pirated content, saying a separate trial will determine damages for “millions” of unauthorized books stored by Anthropic.
  • Meta also secured a summary judgment, with Judge Chhabria stating that plaintiffs “made the wrong arguments” — not that Meta’s actions were fully lawful.
  • The judges dismissed claims that AI models like Claude and LLaMA meaningfully harm book markets or replicate texts at scale.
  • Judge Alsup added: “The Authors’ complaint is no different than if they complained that training schoolchildren to write well would result in an explosion of competing works.”

Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.

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