Ford executive chair says US must prepare for Chinese cars to enter market

Bipartisan bill moving through Congress to ban Chinese cars

Ford Motor Executive Chairman Bill Ford said Tuesday that the U.S. auto industry must prepare to go “toe-to-toe with China,” arguing that Chinese carmakers will eventually find a way into the American market and domestic manufacturers need to be ready.

“We can’t expect to keep them out forever, and we have to be able to beat them at their own game,” Ford said at an Axios event in Washington, D.C.

Ford’s remarks come as a bipartisan bill aimed at effectively banning Chinese cars from the U.S. moves through Congress. A Senate committee is expected to vote Wednesday on the legislation, with a similar bill pending in the House. Ford Motor has said it supports the bill and its stated aim of protecting the U.S. industrial base.

China’s automakers, including BYD and Geely, have been kept out of the U.S. by tariffs and national-security restrictions, but have rapidly expanded exports globally. Exports of electric vehicles and hybrids from Chinese automakers more than doubled in June to about 877,000, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

Existing restrictions have already affected some brands. Polestar, the EV maker controlled by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, said last month it would stop selling cars in the U.S. after the Commerce Department denied its request for authorization under a rule banning Chinese connected-vehicle software. Volvo, also majority-owned by Geely, received authorization from the Commerce Department in May to continue operating in the U.S., the company said.

Ford Motor is preparing to compete directly on cost. The automaker is developing a new $30,000 all-electric pickup truck set to go on sale in 2027, built at a Kentucky factory using a newly designed assembly process that pieces together the vehicle in three segments — the front, rear and battery — that merge at the end of the production line. The assembly line is designed to produce other vehicle styles in the future, including small cars and commercial vans.

In Europe, Ford Motor is partnering with French carmaker Renault to produce two new small EVs for that market, where the automaker already faces Chinese competition.

Ford, the great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, also called for a bipartisan U.S. industrial policy to keep the country competitive with major automotive hubs like China, Japan and South Korea, and said it must be able to withstand policy changes ushered in by elections.

“Our lead times are longer than political lead times,” Ford said. “I think an industrial policy that is a bipartisan one — which, as I say today, even saying that might sound difficult — we really need that.”