It's a two-way street. The University gets uncounted millions of dollars in research grants and contributions from automobile companies. The industry's top executives, many of them U-M alumni, frequently return to campus to give lectures and attend seminars. Many serve on advisory committees in various departments. They are always going to get along well, if only because they are destined to live side by side as far as the eye can see.
Life together is mutually beneficial.
The auto industry increasingly depends on the University for its basic research. As federal grants disappear, faculty members increasingly depend on research contracts with auto companies. Many faculty members in business, engineering, economics, medicine and myriad other fields work as consultants for the auto industry. You can find automotive studies in unlikely places around campus. The future of transit won't be fixed-route buses and light rail but small vehicles with much more flexible scheduling, what is often called paratransit now.