Neither of the Detroit heavyweights go deep into what a Trump White House might mean, but do nod at advising Republicans to steer clear of trashing the fledgling industry
Ford CEO Jim Farley and his GM counterpart Mary Barra offered perhaps unsurprisingly similar non-committal answers when asked in Q2 analyst calls about the potential impact of a Donald Trump win in November’s presidential election and future tinkering with Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) legislation as they pertain to EVs.
But both also offered more than a hint that they have been trying to steer the Republican Party away from simply putting a match to current arrangements. There is certainly much greater subtlety in their approaches than the full-throated social media support of the Trump campaign offered by Elon Musk, their counterpart at Tesla.
The two executives stress that their firms will have the ability to best calibrate their ICE, hybrid and BEV production to any short-term changes in legislation. But they also maintain that they have long-term EV strategies that will not be greatly influenced by the outcome of a single election.
Sign up for EV inFocus
EV inFocus: Hard news for the corporate e-mobility sector
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
“Ford's strategy is manufacturing flexibility and choice,” says Farley. “We are going to give customers choice. We are going to be flexible in manufacturing.”
“Our strategy is to offer our consumers choice,” echoes Barra. “We have got an incredible portfolio of vehicles, both EV and ICE, and we have got flexibility.” Almost as if they had the same script writer.
Looking longer-term
And they share similar views on the long term. “We believe that to be fully fit globally — whether it is our Ranger business, our commercial business, anything really — we have to find a way inside the company to be fully fit with lots of partnerships on the supply chain side," Farley says.
"This is a kind of enduring strategy at the company. Even if there were short-term adjustments we can make to a compliance-led lower requirement line-up, we are not going to approach it that way,” he continues.
“Regardless of what happens from a regulatory perspective, we are going to be well positioned with our ICE and with our EV portfolio,” adds Barra.
The likelihood is that, even if a victorious Trump wanted to make changes to the IRA or to EPA targets, these would take time, potentially years, to enact. “The EPA could certainly change,” Farley acknowledges. “But it would take… several years, through legislation and lawsuits, for that to change.”
Barra also foresees legislative alterations not being immediate, saying “it is really hard for me to predict what the timeline would be if something is going to change”.
Gentle lobbying
Both firms likely count significant numbers of Republican voters, including among those many who have fallen under a spell cast by Trump that is largely baffling to most Europeans outside of the continent's far right. So, it is no great surprise that neither executive wants to explicitly criticise his inaccurate and untruthful anti-EV rants.
But both have clearly been lobbying the Republican Party more widely in a, possibly over-optimistic, appeal to more moderate elements to restrain their quixotic nominee should he prevail. Barra, as befits her more conventional, blander approach, is more circumspect than the more down-home, straight shooter persona that Farley cultivates.
Nonetheless, she stresses that through “the investments GMs made in EVs, we are creating thousands of jobs all over the country including Ohio, Michigan, and Tennessee”, none of them exactly deep blue states. And her statement that “what is really important to the company overall is to have regulatory certainty” reads as something of a plea against tearing up the current EV legislative framework.
Farley is more explicit. “I have been at the Hill many times in the last month, talking to many Republican leaders of the country,” he reveals.
“And I always say the same thing to them, ‘please realise that there is a subset of customers that absolutely would save money [by driving BEVs], and there is also absolutely a group of customers who like partial electrification.’” Ford too is not rubbing its hands at the prospect of a Trump administration cratering EV adoption rates with a bonfire of incentives, in fact the opposite.
While the two firms are largely singing from the same hymn sheet, it does not mean, though, that they have entirely put rivalry to one side as both try to nudge the Republican Party away from a radical policy U-turn. “The only way, we believe, to be enduring is to make money on small EVs and commercial. That is our bet; you will see it play out in the coming years,” Farley asserts.
What does he mean by Ford being enduring? “We did not go bankrupt,” the CEO reminds everyone, never missing an opportunity to recall GM’s financial crisis woes.
Peter boasts 20+ years’ experience in energy/commodity journalism & analysis.
He is convinced the next few decades will be all about energy transition. Insider Focus is a front-row seat for the ride.
