READER MAIL
Please click here to send us an email. (We do not publish email addresses.) Be sure to include your initials and hometown! -WG
Longtime reader.
I have been a reader since the first rant, and to say that I have immensely enjoyed the past 26 and a half years would be an understatement. Your rants give the reader a true behind the curtain view of the industry that simply does not exist anywhere else. In addition, your rants that give a glimpse into your life growing up in the business are my personal favorites.
I am very sorry to hear about your health issues and will keep you in my daily prayers.
Wishing you and Janice a very merry holiday season and a wonderful 2026!
KB
Sparta, New Jersey
From Day One.
Best wishes for your health PMD! I have been here since the first issue. And as a transplant to the area who is an "observer " of the local culture, it is one of the funniest things I have ever read. Have no idea if you meant it as humor. But everything comes to an end and if Janice and you decide this is it, good for you. How many people out there could have pulled off Autoextremist? Rooting for you!
Dave Goldin
Rochester, Michigan
Affordability.
Very few times in the history of this business has a company created a vehicle for the masses. The working stiffs that get up early. The young dreamers working late. The older couple that’s retired. The one thing these demographics are looking for is AFFORDABILITY. These gas-bags think their next great idea is going to set the industry on fire. That idea is NEVER affordable cars and trucks. That’s what people need. It’s never going to change. Notice that we have the worst functioning government in our country's history because we filled it with businessmen. The cronyism, kickbacks and false promises are on full display. We hardly ever see any of their promises kept. The lives of those demographics never improved. Our only hope is independent journalism to shine a light on it. Keep up the good fight PMD. The true believers still need your voice.
JRR
Plymouth, Michigan
Please don't stop.
As someone who sees our country and its current situation very much as you do, I would just like to say: "please don't stop!" You have the ability, and willingness, to shine a light on things as they really are, not just in the industry, but in our society, and these are things that need to be said. Too many folks are just trying to look the other way, and in the meantime, Rome is burning. AE seems to me to be a unique creation and a valuable voice, about much more than the automotive business, though the straight shooting on the car business is certainly refreshing, and yes, brutally honest.
Wishing you well with your health problems--we all have them or will have them eventually. I hope you can overcome, and go on for many more years. Have a good break, and happy holidays!
DC
Cashiers, North Carolina
The High-Octane Truth.
It has been a fascinating read for all the years. Fascinating, because your view of the world through the small porthole of the auto industry has helped us all in looking at the whole life picture. The American auto industry is in a hot mess to be sure, but so is the industry on the other five continents it exists; It ain’t just Farley or Trump, it’s the whole of all endeavors that have some form of dysfunction. One of those annoying clickbait items that permeate many web pages these days exclaimed that billionaires are working on finding a way to live forever. Good for them. I and millions of others already have, and we celebrate that once a year about this time.
"Fear not then, said the Angel
Let nothing you affright
This day is born a Savior
Of a pure Virgin bright
To free all those who trust in Him
From Satan's pow'r and might
Oh tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
Oh tidings of comfort and joy”
-From God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, author unknown.
High Octane Truth indeed.
Chris Blanchard
Prescott, Wisconsin
A thank you.
I would like to thank you for the many years of your absolutely fantastic writing on AutoExtremist, and wish you all the best with the health issues you are dealing with.
I look forward to AutoExtremist every week, both for the straightforward news and perspectives not available anywhere else, and especially your bare-knuckles, baseball bat to the back of the head snarky and side-splittingly funny writing style. I often pass your newsletter on to friends. One of my friends retired as an Executive V.P. after 50 years with Ford, I love to see his reactions to your Jim Farley comments!
Your perspectives on the auto industry are unique, and your delivery style unmatched. I don't work in the car business (though I did once have a job offer from Nissan, way back in the stone age early 1990's, to be Director of Product & Strategic Planning for Infiniti, I've always deeply regretted not taking that job...), but I am a life-long hard-core gear head, having owned over 100 cars in my life. Reading your weekly newsletter is one of the highlights of my week.
I can empathize with health issues, and have been dealing with my own non-trivial ones in recent years. The old saying is true, 'when you have your health you have everything' - but so is the opposite. Health issues are also a reminder that our time here is limited; we should be thoughtful about how and with whom we spend it.
I hope the world will continue to be able to enjoy and benefit from your writings, but much more importantly I wish you all the best in successfully resolving your health issues. You have given so much to the community of car enthusiasts over the years, but your health must be the not only highest but only priority.
Happy holidays, and thank you so much again for all the insights, wisdom, and laughs from your writings.
All the best,
Nick Landekic
Westport, Massachusetts
Autoextremist.com
Whatever you decide to do you can take a shitload of much appreciation from a whole lot of people. Your columns over the years have influenced my car purchases, getting a new car every three years. Many thanks for your insight, opinions, and insider facts.
Ted R
Raleigh, North Carolina
Baby please don't go.
One thing that I learned about in the corporate world is that you never get HR involved in anything. I mean what did you expect putting someone that deals with vacation time and health insurance in charge of a "car" company.
As for Jimmy boy... when Upper management at Ford is over their heads, they usually order that the dealerships get revamped. Based on what those clowns did to PDC, I expect Xi to be putting in a bid on the dump, soon.
As far as you continuing AE, all I can say is that you better not desert us...
Ptg0
Highland Park, Michigan
Dear PMD.
I have enjoyed many years of your observations, always looking forward to each week's update. Having said that, the longevity of your personal health and happiness is your prime mission, as it should be for all of us. You do not owe us, the readers, a thing. We owe you decades of thoughtful and informative reading. If it is best for you to retire then by god do so with our blessings. Or reduce your rants tempo to once a month or a quarter, or whenever you are just in the mood for a good rant. If Autoextremist is crossing the finish line, then I thank you whole heartily and wish you many more years of enjoyment and good health.
I assume Janice is WG. To Janice I give the same thanks for being behind the scenes (and in front as well) producing Autoextremist all the same years as well. Wishing you good health and happiness for many more years as well.
Happy Holidays to the both of you and all fellow readers.
DG
Berwick, Maine
Thank you.
Happy holidays to you and WG; AE has been a blessing for forever now. May your health get sorted out and we can't thank you enough for your thoughts and efforts all these years. Godspeed brother.
Dave M.
Houston, Texas
Big Business USA.
Regarding Ford, what never ceases to amaze me is big companies are larded up with floor after floor after floor of product planners, market researchers, financial analysts, and scores of others who are responsible for identifying what consumers are supposedly interested in and developing products that resonate with them. Yet what are the results these people have brought after decades of employ?
Nobody's picked up major market share. Detroit's blown tons of it to the Asians and Europeans over the last 60 years -- which is around the time any good job there required an MBA -- preferably from oh-so-important school. Where have been the consistent breakthrough products? Instead, GM and Chrysler went bankrupt while Ford did everything but.
Elon Musk didn't have scores of spreadsheet jockeys guiding him to create the EV market -- one which Detroit flat-out missed.
The bottom line here is leaders of Big Business USA need to look themselves in the mirror and ask themselves a question. Why can't we produce anything other than flat to incremental levels of growth? Why is Ford worth $53B USD and really going nowhere while Tesla's $1.5T USD? One reason, to me at least, is it's easy to piss over someone's passion for an idea and say no -- because nobody ever gets called on it. Meanwhile, someone who has an idea that doesn't quite pan out is taken to task -- even it if costs a fraction of the billions Farley flushed in pursuit of his own self-worth. Trust me, he went all in because he thought Ford's stock could be valued like Tesla's. That's all he cared about.
Look at the largest companies in the US by valuation. Google. Nvidia. Most of the top 10 didn't exist 25-40 years ago. IBM had the wherewithal to beat Google to market. Had the money, too. Google raised just $14M USD in venture capital before filing for their IPO. IBM's CEO probably spent more on his fleet of Gulfstreams during that time. Now Google's worth $3.67T while IBM's at $250B or so. Intel and Nvidia are an even more stark comparison.
Something is clearly wrong with the what the business schools are teaching and what large businesses are practicing. And the arrogance and desire for safe decisions while being part of the team (a.k.a. a bunch of stooges) will probably prevent it from ever changing.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, my friend. Take care. Do what the doc tells you to do. Don't forget to have some fun while you're at it.
Michael Ostrofsky
Newnan, Georgia
Pesky Comparisons.
You grew up down the street from Bill Mitchell. I grew up across our street from a young Ford finance staff guy (who would eventually become the company treasurer) and whose boss and friend at that time was automotive finance icon and Whiz Kid, J. Edward Lundy. Together they composed the numbers for the Edsel. History and business pundits will forever impugn the financial and marketing boondoggle of that vehicle program and its damage to Ford. Total cost: about $3.6 billion in today’s dollars. Loss per vehicle: $3200.
Fast Farley forward to today. The losses on the EV F-150 Lightning program total around $19 billion, about $50,000 loss per vehicle, and there is no redeeming future Mustang or Taurus program in the works. Only half occupied joint venture battery plants making KW storage for AI server farms and data centers. Not very sexy, but the Grand Transition never was.
On Sunday afternoons my neighbor would load my brothers and me together with his kids in the back of his ‘56 Country Squire wagon and drive over to the construction site of the then under construction Ford “Glass House”. We would marvel at the structural steel and freshly poured concrete. He would buy everyone a Dairy Queen cone on the way home. The building is scheduled for demolition starting next year. “Glass House”, Edsel, my fond neighbor and F-150 Lightning. RIP.
Dr. John
Phoenix, Arizona via Dearborn, Michigan
Not impressed.
So "Cadillac" is entering F1, huh? Let's see... engines from Ferrari, a car built by who knows who, but certainly not by GM, and probably a generic F1 workforce. So "Cadillac" is nothing more than a team name to try and fool the millions who watch F1 into thinking that "Cadillac" is going to compete at this level. Good luck with that as it will probably backfire due to piss poor performance. I give them 3 years before they quit.
Ted R.
Raleigh, North Carolina
Serious question.
Who is the audience for the Jim Farley hagiographies (see the December 28th Detroit Free Press for the latest example) and what is the goal? Is it for the automotive industry? The Ford workforce? Wall Street? Farley his own self?
NOG
North Oakland County
Editor-in-Chief's Note: The "smarm" offensive on behalf of Farley has been consistently and very effectively orchestrated by Mark Truby, Ford's PR Chief, who is one of the best in the business. As to whom the PR blitz is directed, it's all of the factions you mentioned. Farley's track record has been sketchy at best - and that's putting it mildly - as I've pointed out relentlessly since he was handed the reins of the company, so there's a constant drumbeat being pushed out there trying to create a persona for Farley that, to put it charitably, is simply not accurate. So far, it has worked very well, but there's no doubt that the clock is ticking on Farley's reign. The reason he's still there is that Ford doesn't have anyone on the bench to take over, and Bill Ford is painfully aware of that fact. So, for the time being, we will continue to be subjected to the canonization of Farley. -PMD