Ford Motor Company

President Donald Trump's aggressive trade policy has produced a mixed bag for American auto manufacturing, with analysts describing the gains as incremental rather than decisive. Since Trump returned to the White House, General Motors, Toyota, Ford and other carmakers have announced plans to expand US plants or shift production from overseas, navigating measures such as a 25-percent levy on imported autos. Toyota announced a $3.6 billion expansion of a San Antonio plant as it moves Tacoma pickup production from Mexico to San Antonio, while GM's $4 billion investments in Michigan, Kansas and Tennessee are not expected to lift US auto production until around 2030. Stephanie Brinley, an automotive analyst at Mobility Global, called the lift from Trump's tariffs a partial win, and industry experts view the unsettled nature of the trade measures as a hindrance to bigger wins, most recently in the dust-up between the United States and Canada that has clouded the prospects of the USMCA. Investment by auto suppliers plunged from more than $8 billion in the first quarter of 2025 to around $600 million in the two subsequent quarters before recovering somewhat, according to data from the Center for Automotive Research, whose industry economist Tyler Harp said suppliers are more exposed to tariffs and less able to absorb them than automakers. US auto employment stood at just under 1.8 million workers in September, almost one percent more than in January 2025 but more than two percent below the July 2024 peak, and Global Mobility projects US car production will be 10 million vehicles in 2026, rising to around 11.3 million in 2030.

Ford Motor reported a 6.6% decline in third-quarter U.S. vehicle sales, while saying a short-term supplier issue that affected F-150 production at the end of September should have a financial impact contained within its $10 billion to $11 billion 2026 adjusted EBIT guidance. Ford said the supplier issue was unrelated to aluminum and that its expected financial impact remains within the full-year guidance range the automaker provided on July 28. Ford sold 509,764 vehicles in the third quarter, down from a year earlier, though excluding the planned phase-out of the Escape and Corsair its vehicle volume was essentially flat against an estimated 1% decline for the overall industry. The company estimated its U.S. retail market share rose about 0.4 percentage point to 12.1%. F-Series sales rose 2.4% in September to 67,448 vehicles, bringing year-to-date sales to 561,508, more than 140,000 ahead of Chevrolet Silverado, while F-Series production increased 4.5% in the third quarter to 266,777 trucks and Super Duty production rose 4.4% to 110,275 vehicles, its strongest quarterly result in 19 years. Maverick Hybrid sales jumped 59.6% to a quarterly record of 27,793, Bronco sales reached a record 38,020, Explorer sales rose 17.6% through September to 189,210, and active paid software subscriptions surpassed 1.7 million, up more than 40% from a year earlier.

Republican Senator Rand Paul is blocking the bipartisan Connected Vehicle Security Act of 2026 in the Senate, legislation sponsored by Senators Bernie Moreno of Ohio and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan that would prohibit the import, manufacture, and sale of connected vehicles and related software and hardware linked to China and other designated foreign adversaries. The Senate Commerce Committee approved the bill in July, and it was placed on the Senate legislative calendar on September 22. Paul has argued the proposal could impact Mercedes-Benz and Ford Motor, and its proposed ownership threshold has raised questions about whether automakers with Chinese investors, including Aston Martin and Volvo Cars, could also be affected. The bill would go further than a Biden administration Commerce Department regulation from early 2025 that effectively banned Chinese automakers from selling or building passenger vehicles in the U.S. over concerns that sensitive driver data could be sent to China. President Trump added a wildcard last week by saying he would accept Chinese automakers building vehicles in the U.S.

General Motors is sticking with diesel engines for the redesigned Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, which are scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter with an upgraded 3.0-liter diesel and an optional larger fuel tank delivering more than 900 miles of highway range. The decision matters because Silverado and Sierra are among GM's most important profit generators: GMNA posted an 8.6% EBIT-adjusted margin in the second quarter, up from 6.1% a year earlier, and generated $3.45 billion of EBIT-adjusted earnings, up 43% year over year, with the company citing strong full-size pickup demand and favorable product mix. GM's current four-wheel-drive diesel Silverado and Sierra already achieve about 24 mpg, slightly above Ford's hybrid F-150 at 23 mpg, according to federal ratings cited by Reuters. The risk is that hybrids represented 19% of U.S. vehicle retail sales in August 2026 while GM largely lacks hybrid offerings, and GM's U.S. market share had fallen to 16.8% as Toyota and Honda gained ground, with Reuters estimating that owners driving 15,000 miles annually could spend about $1,050 more on fuel with GM's diesel pickups. Ford and Stellantis are leaning more heavily into hybrid powertrains for their light-duty pickups, and Stellantis' planned extended-range hybrid Ram is expected to offer up to 690 miles of range.

TD Cowen told clients on Tuesday that the recent selloff in auto stocks over fears of Chinese automakers entering the US market is "overdone," as President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington on Wednesday for three days of talks with President Trump. Senior analyst Itay Michaeli wrote that a shift in US import policy at the summit is "very unlikely," though he urged investors to prepare for that eventuality anyway, noting that most industry contacts share that view. A coalition led by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, joined by the American Automotive Policy Council, dealer group NADA, and supplier association MEMA, sent a letter to Trump urging the administration to "keep the door firmly shut to Chinese automakers seeking to sell, import, or manufacture vehicles inside the US," crediting Trump's 100% tariffs on Chinese vehicles and a Commerce Department rule barring Chinese connected-car software with shielding the US from the surge seen in Europe, Australia, Southeast Asia, Mexico, and South America. TD Cowen laid out guardrails under which Chinese automakers could be forced in through minority-owned joint ventures with domestic players and probably barred from building full-size trucks, and Michaeli argued such structures "might even prove EPS accretive given sizable D3 EV losses," with Stellantis arguably having the most to gain given its lower North America EBIT starting point. The firm sees EV suppliers and charging networks like ChargePoint and EVgo as beneficiaries of faster US EV adoption, and parts makers with existing ties to Chinese OEMs, including BorgWarner and Aptiv, as "better positioned" than most, while the math is mixed for EV pure-plays Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid. The catch, per Michaeli, is that Big Three stock multiples could still suffer on the long-term risk that any initial restrictions eventually get lifted.

CATL has developed a "tall" battery design tailored to the US pick-up truck market despite trade restrictions blocking its entry into the country, the Financial Times reported. Citing CATL international business unit CTO Zhu Lingbo, the newspaper said US carmakers have already tested the batteries, though the companies were not identified. Zhu said CATL could license the technology to companies in the US for local production, following a model like its existing arrangements with Ford and Tesla for EV battery manufacturing in the country. Speaking at CATL's headquarters in Ningde, Zhu said the US remained a market with potential for "huge business" for the company "even with this kind of very intense geopolitics." The remarks came ahead of a planned summit in Washington involving US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and an earlier scheduled meeting in New York between US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his Chinese counterpart He Lifeng. The Pentagon named CATL last year as a company with alleged military ties, a claim the firm has denied, while Chinese battery and EV manufacturers continue to face tariffs, localisation requirements and possible bans from Washington on national security grounds. Last week, organisations representing the US automotive industry asked Trump to maintain measures aimed at preventing Chinese carmakers and their supply chains from entering the US market, after Trump said he would "be OK" with China establishing car plants in the US if American workers were employed. In April, CATL introduced a new fast-charging EV battery, launching the third-generation "Shenxing" lithium-iron-phosphate battery, which it said can charge from 10% to 98% in six minutes and 27 seconds under moderate temperatures.

Hyundai CEO Jose Munoz warned that Chinese vehicles could flood the U.S. market, as they did in Europe, unless Washington maintains tariffs and other trade safeguards, Reuters reported. Munoz noted that Chinese vehicles are 30%-40% cheaper than rival models in some markets including Italy, Spain and France, even with EU trade barriers such as tariffs and minimum pricing commitments in place. He said the UK, which left the EU in 2020 and has no similar tariffs on Chinese cars, now counts all of its top car sellers as Chinese, and warned similar things could happen in the U.S. at different levels unless certain conditions are met. The U.S. has effectively blocked Chinese electric vehicle imports with tariffs of about 100%, though President Donald Trump recently said he would be open to Chinese automakers manufacturing in the U.S. as long as they employ Americans. Munoz's remarks echoed Ford CEO Jim Farley, who told staff in July that the company was bracing for Chinese automakers to enter the U.S. within the next 5-10 years.

Chinese automakers are scouting locations for production bases in Europe after the EU signaled it will introduce local content requirements. Alfredo Altavilla, BYD's adviser for Europe, told Reuters at the opening ceremony of a Denza premium brand dealership in Turin, Italy, that companies are focusing their efforts on inspecting existing auto assembly plants, which can start production faster than building factories from scratch. The European Commission is drafting a "Made in Europe" policy that favors industrial parts and products made within the bloc, and is expected to set minimum local content thresholds for EVs sold in the region, possibly as early as next year. BYD aims to acquire existing plants, take full ownership and then retrofit them; its first European passenger car plant in Hungary is in the early stages of production, and the company is expected to select a second European site within the year. Altavilla said that to grow while meeting EU regulations, BYD will eventually need "three assembly plants and one battery plant" in Europe, adding that Spain and France offer "clearly simpler situations" and are the "most feasible" options. Italy is a "second-best" choice because Stellantis is reluctant to sell plants, he said. Chinese manufacturers have already begun partnerships to share production lines at underutilized European plants: Leapmotor is teaming up with Stellantis in Spain, Dongfeng Motor with Stellantis in France, Geely with Ford Motor in Spain, and Chery has bought a plant in Spain previously owned by Nissan.

Ford has unveiled the 2027 F-150, its most comprehensive update to the truck in years, adding hands-free towing, a V8 option across the entire lineup, and a first-ever Carhartt edition as the automaker works to revive its flagship product after a bruising first half. F-Series US sales fell 13.3% in the first six months of 2026 to 357,801 units from 412,848 a year earlier, after aluminum shortages from the Novelis plant fires cut F-Series production by roughly 90,000 to 100,000 units and cost Ford $2 billion. The 5.0-liter V8 returns to the King Ranch and Platinum trims for the first time since 2023, making it available from XL to Platinum, while the outgoing 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 is replaced by a 3.0-liter unit delivering 10% to 11% more torque in everyday driving. The headline feature, BlueCruise with Towing, allows hands-free driving on more than 130,000 miles of divided Blue Zone highways while pulling a trailer, a system Ford validated across 800 trailer configurations. Ford is also opening a cheaper path into its off-road trucks with Tremor Low and Raptor Low equipment groups, which start about $5,300 and $4,000 below the current versions respectively, putting the entry-level Raptor near $75,000, and the first-ever F-150 Carhartt package starts at $62,660 before destination. The 2027 F-150 goes on sale in early 2027, with Carhartt orders opening alongside the reveal.

President Donald Trump said he would be open to Chinese automakers building vehicles in the United States with American workers, while pledging to maintain restrictions that have effectively shut Chinese-made cars out of the U.S. market. In a Fox News interview, Trump rejected reports that he could allow vehicles built in China to be imported, saying the domestic market could be "overrun" if existing restrictions were lifted, and drew a distinction between imports and Chinese companies manufacturing inside the U.S., comparing such investment with production by Japanese automakers. "If China wanted to come in, and open a plant to build their cars here, I'd be okay with it," Trump said, adding that Chinese manufacturers would need to hire American workers. The comments come ahead of a planned summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington, and follow similar remarks in January; Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley and Trump administration officials also held preliminary discussions earlier this year about a possible framework under which Chinese companies could manufacture cars in the U.S. with protections for domestic automakers, though no decisions were reached. The prospect remains politically contentious, with Senators Elissa Slotkin and Bernie Moreno introducing legislation backed by Ford, General Motors and the United Auto Workers that would restrict connected vehicles, software and hardware linked to China and other countries considered U.S. adversaries, and prohibit sales of connected vehicles from automakers more than 15% owned by Chinese entities.

Ford has fired back at the Trump administration after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy expressed profound concern over the automaker's use of Chinese partners, calling the letter wrong-headed. The dispute centers on Ford's Michigan battery plant, which will license battery technology from Chinese company CATL, as well as a joint venture in Spain with Geely and the delayed return of Lincoln Nautilus production to the U.S. Ford's head of communications, Mark Truby, called the letter a head-scratcher, noting that the plant will be staffed by Ford employees and that the company is simply licensing technology. The exchange is surprising given the previously friendly relationship between CEO Jim Farley and President Trump, and analysts suggest it may be political theater unless it escalates into a broader conflict affecting government contracts and approvals.