In the midst of the most extreme affordability crisis car buying consumers in this country have faced in the last 25 years, domestic automakers are churning out $85,000 (and much more) pickups and SUVs with impunity, counting on the fact that they’ll keep making money on those luxury behemoths while hoping to figure out the lower end of the market on the fly.

 

As if.

 

While this is happening, these same automakers are insisting that they haven’t ignored the concept of affordability and that “it won’t be long now!” before domestic dealer lots are crammed with under-$40,000 vehicles. But, needless to say, their credibility is highly suspect.

 

The evidence? Jim “I’m a genius just ask me” Farley, the Ford CEO – who flits between cable TV appearances on an endless quest for self-aggrandizement and with his “look at me, I’m so cool!” podcasts – is promising that the “Fathom” wonder truck will be the greatest thing since sliced bread when it hits the market next year. Which, considering the source, is highly questionable. Remember, this is from a guy who has promised the moon and the stars before and fell flat on his face. After all, how many “Model T moments” from one company can there be before people just ignore his boastful – and flat-out delusional – promises altogether? Farley is saying his little “wonder truck” will be out next year. That’s a laugh. It might appear on December 31, 2027, in pre-production form, only to suffer an endless series of delays and recalls. Ready. Set. Oh, never mind.

 

I’ve covered this tedious situation before, but Chairman Bill Ford is well and truly hamstrung with Farley, because the company’s bench strength is nonexistent. So, we’re all collectively stuck with this self-promoting blowhard until he retires to Carmel with his hundreds of millions. Good Riddance can’t happen soon enough. But at least he was crowned “2026 Automotive News Industry Leader of the Year” so there’s that. 

 

And there’s more, there’s always more. Ford and General Motors operatives blatantly cozied up to the Conman-in-Chief to get defense contract business, as well as getting the mileage standards rolled back to where they were during the previous administration. And they succeeded on both counts. But to that I say, be careful what you wish for, because the cost of achieving those goals was astronomical.

 

These same leaders blithely sat by, there was that unforgettable – and cringeworthy – picture of Farley preening in the oval office as the Stumblebum-in-Chief touted his tariffs, which have only served to decimate the auto industry and destroy longstanding relationships with this country’s most trusted trading partners. It has been, quite simply, a debacle of almost incalculable proportion. Again, to see these corporate leaders whore themselves out was excruciating and inexcusable.

 

GM’s case was particularly disturbing, as the company destroyed what little shred of credibility it had left when they cozied up to Dear Leader and allowed him to bring his festering Dead Air Circus to Milford. It was simply unconscionable to me and by far the lowest point in the corporation’s history. And what did CEO Mary Barra get for that, exactly? A slew of defense contracts that may or not prove to be lucrative – after all, this is the U.S. government, we’re talking about – so please spare me the idea of a “sure thing,” especially while “partnering” with this chaotic administration. When the final tally is written about Barra’s tenure, this episode will have irrevocably besmirched her reputation.

 

The other dimension to this “be careful what you ask for” thing is the rollback of the fuel economy standards. It’s no secret that this is the most short-sighted and painfully reactionary administration in this country’s history, so this dimwitted action was not entirely unexpected. After all, Dear Leader is locked in a sick 1980s-time warp, which will only serve to park this auto industry in neutral, while the rest of the global auto industry blows by it, hammer down.

 

I have predicted of late that this country’s auto industry will end up looking a lot like Great Britain’s, which is basically a cottage industry. But in retrospect, I was being woefully optimistic. The rollback of these standards will effectively destroy the U.S. auto industry within a decade, relegating it to permanent also-ran status.

 

As I said in my preamble last week, things are rapidly spinning out of control. I retained a shred of optimism as recently as a few weeks ago. Now? We’re watching as an excruciatingly slow train wreck unfolds before our eyes.

 

And what about all of the glorious high-performance cars we have access to now? Doesn’t that count for something? Sure, it does. And they will look really good at Pebble Beach fifteen years from now as symbols of a perpetually mismanaged industry that was swallowed whole by the harsh realities of a changed world.

 

It’s just beyond infuriating at this point

 

And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.

 

 

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG