#fordism

#fordism

"First of all, the Chinese have huge direct support for their auto companies. They have enough capacity in China to cover all the manufacturing, all the vehicle sales in the United States."

As the average price of a new car in the U.S. approaches $50,000, more of the car-buying public is open to buying cheaper Chinese cars, despite resistance from the industry and both major U.S. political parties.

While it's appropriate to lament the lack of bipartisan cooperation in Washington, just because something's bipartisan doesn't mean it's a good idea. Exhibit A could be Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Senator J.D. Vance's (R-OH) "Invent It Here, Make It Here" bill. Despite the name and its good intentions, it condemns promising federally funded inventions to waste away without doing a thing to build our domestic manufacturing base. It's scheduled to be considered this Thursday in the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

While Ford ( NYSE: F) was eating through billions of dollars in an attempt to gain a large market share in the US EV market and its EU and China units stagnated, its best-selling, and likely most profitable vehicle, the F-150, continued its gargantuan unit sales. The F-150 is part of the F-Series of full-size pickup trucks. Last year, unit sales of these in the US reached 828,832, up 8.3%.

Ford beat earnings estimates in three straight quarters through Q3 2025, with a stunning 367% surprise in Q1. The stock responded by going... nowhere. Up 47% over the past year but still trading at $13.60, barely above where it sat in 2016. That's the Ford pattern in a nutshell: promise without payoff, execution without escape velocity.