As some lawmakers have proposed measures to shut Chinese automakers out of the U.S. market entirely, and automotive industry lobbyists have supported those efforts, Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford is striking a different tune: It’s time for American automakers to rise to the challenge.
“We have to fight one-on-one with China,” Ford said at a conference. axios Event in Washington, DC on Tuesday wall street journal. “We can’t expect to keep them out forever, and we have to be able to beat them at their own game.”
It’s an understandable stance, though not one that appears to be popular within Ford. CEO Jim Farley told fox news “We shouldn’t let them come into our country” in April, referring to Chinese EVs and expressing concern over the subsidies China’s auto sector receives from its government, which he argued makes competing with them “not a fair fight.”
Ford is also a member of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AAI), a lobbyist group that specifically supports the Connected Vehicle Security Act proposed by Senators Bernie Moreno of Ohio and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan that seeks to ban China-made cars and their technologies from the US market.
“We need to make sure we’re all playing by the same rules, but Chinese automakers are flooding markets around the world with cut-rate vehicles,” said John Bozzella, AAI president and CEO. said in a statement A few weeks after Farley fox Interview. “Sensors Moreno and Slotkin don’t want that to happen here. They’re right. The legislation they introduced today sends a clear message: The US will not open the door to Chinese automakers manufacturing or selling here.”
The EV in question has already been welcomed in Mexico and most recently in Canada under a new regulation allows limited quotas of imports. And cars with Chinese ties are already being sold in the US. Volvo was recently given an authorization by the Commerce Department to continue doing business in the states despite its ownership by Chinese conglomerate Geely; Strangely, its sister brand Polestar was not so lucky. And specific models from some established brands, such as the Lincoln Nautilus, are manufactured in China yet sold in the US.
Amid all the turmoil and inconsistent interpretation of the rules, Bill Ford is seeking a strategy beyond the boycott that can withstand a regime change or two. “Our lead time is longer than the political lead time. I think an industrial policy that is bipartisan — as I say today, even as it may seem difficult to say — is what we really need,” Ford said.
To Ford’s credit, the company is attempting to fend off the threat of Chinese competition with a product in the form of a $30,000 electric pickup. Responding to any moment with a truck is very Ford-like, but it’s not alone; Startup Slate is trying to do the same with an even smaller, cheaper vehicle. If Chinese automakers somehow manage to break in, despite legislation in Congress designed to thwart them, it will be interesting to see how they compare. However, the way Bill Ford talks about it, it’s less a question of “if” but more of “when.”
