Trump Meets US Car Company Execs: Who Said What And Why

Donald Trump held a meeting with all three US car company chief executives yesterday — Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, Mark  Fields, CEO of Ford, and Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Chrysler. Prior to the meeting Trump tweeted, “I want new plants to be built here for cars sold here!” The three US car company leaders were only too happy to raise their voices in unison to praise Trump and his grand vision.

Body language speaks louder than words. Barra, Marchionne, Fields after meeting with Donald Trump. Photo credit: Reuters

“He looks forward to hearing their ideas, on how we can work together to bring more jobs back to this industry in particular,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. That would be the same Sean Spicer who two days ago stood up in the White House press room and blatantly lied about the size of the crowd during the inauguration.

Trump is an environmentalist

Trump told the group,  “I am to a large extent an environmentalist. I believe in it, but it’s out of control.” Trump is a man who knows a thing or two about being out of control. Today, he has announced plans to ram through both the Dakota Access pipeline and the moribund Keystone XL pipeline, proving that his brand of environmentalism is all about burning more fossil fuels and fattening the profits of oil company executives.

After the meeting with domestic car company execs, Barra told the press it was “very constructive and wide-ranging,” saying it focused on “policies that support a strong and competitive economy and auto industry,” and “that support the environment and safety and jobs creation.”

Fields was effusive in his praise. Having been slapped around by Trump because of Ford’s manufacturing plants in Mexico, Fields showed he was a quick study who knew how to sing from the Trump hymnal when required. “We’re excited about working together with the president and his administration on tax policies, on regulation, and on trade to really create a renaissance in American manufacturing,” Fields said after the meeting.

Nothing in his remarks had anything specifically to say about making automobiles. Rather, they were in response to Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Trans Pacific Partnership. “We’ve repeatedly said that the mother of all trade barriers is currency manipulation, and TPP failed in meaningfully dealing with that, and we appreciate the president’s courage to walk away from a bad trade deal,” he said. The elephant in the room is China, which has been accused of currency manipulation ever since it embraced its own version of capitalism several decades ago.

Marchionne, who is openly seeking a buyer for Chrysler, chimed in with this: “I appreciate the President’s focus on making the US a great place to do business. We look forward to working with President Trump and members of Congress to strengthen American manufacturing.”

Cutting government regulations

Trump thumped his chest about one of his favorite topics — government regulations. “We think we can cut regulations by 75 percent. Maybe more,” Trump said. “When you want to expand your plant, or when Mark wants to come in and build a big massive plant, or when Dell wants to come in and do something monstrous and special — you’re going to have your approvals really fast.”

Predictably, he made no mention of which regulations he was referring to, but one can make some informed guesses. OSHA regulations that protect workers from losing body parts in pursuit of corporate profits would be a good place to start. Minimum wage and overtime pay provisions? Who needs them? Environmental limitations on  the use of toxic materials that protect workers from industrial hazards? They cost business a lot of money. Clean air and clean water requirements also cost corporations bigly.

The most important ones, of course, are any and all rules that force car makers to manufacture vehicles nobody wants to buy. That would include CAFE and tailpipe emissions standards. Get rid of them and American manufacturers would find it a lot easier to sell high profit cars and trucks that average 15 mpg or so instead of wasting precious resources on hybrid and plug-in hybrid technology. No need to plow scarce corporate cash into EV charging infrastructure. Let the good times roll.

Perhaps Barra and company can bring back the Hummer brand. Those were vehicles every red blooded American craved. Who wouldn’t want to commute in a big, rugged truck the size of an Abrams tank? Those were the days, folks, back before Democrats and tree huggers started shouting about climate change and global warming.

The curse of protectionism

Forget about melting ice sheets. Trump and his acolytes are relying on “alternate facts.” But there is more to this than just keeping the earth safe for human habitation. As Stef Schrader points out in Jalopnik, “If America wants to be ‘great,’ it needs to produce the greatest cars on earth, not cars that are just okay enough to get by within its own borders.” Gee, you mean American car companies should be concerned about selling cars in other countries? What a novel idea.

She points out that protectionism in the form of high tariffs keep good cars out and allows domestic manufacturers to build junk. Need an example? Look at the British car industry. Favored by high tariffs after World War II, it built a succession of increasingly inferior cars until it literally ceased to exist. Today, the only good parts of the British car industry are owned by foreign companies, most of them German. Go figure. What Hitler couldn’t do with his V-1 rockets, the British people did to themselves.

Schrader also has harsh words for a prior era of American protectionism. Following the 1979 oil embargo, American car companies pleaded for relief from the onslaught of well made, fuel efficient cars from Japan. What they got was a program known as “Voluntary  Export Restrictions” in which Japanese manufacturers supposedly agreed to limit the number of cars coming into the US.

As a result, claims Schrader, “Instead of simply making better cars to beat the likes of Honda and Toyota at their heown game, we ended up with domestically-made crapcans like the Chevrolet Citation II and the Chrysler K-cars.” She omitted the equally dreadful Ford Pinto.

The architect of the Voluntary Export Restrictions was one Robert Lighthizer. And who has The Donald tapped to be his lead trade representative? Robert Lighthizer. It’s back to the future all over again.

One other thing to keep in mind is that limiting competition inevitably raises prices. What will all those Trump cheerleaders have to say when the price of cars increases to pay the higher wages commanded by American workers? There’s a reason why Walmart is the largest retailer in the world and it doesn’t have anything to do with domestically produced goods.

There are two thoughts applicable here. One is, those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it. The other is, be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.

Source: Autoblog, Automotive News

CARB, EV1, Ford, And Trump — Where Do We Go From Here?

In December, 1996, General Motors began leasing its innovative EV1 to customers in California. The EV1 generated a great deal of interest in electric cars but there was a reason why it was only available in California. The California Air Resources Board had promulgated regulations requiring manufacturers to sell zero emission cars if they want to continue doing business in the state.

California has been the largest car market in the US for decades. As distasteful as the zero emissions rules were to car makers, they could not bring themselves to ignore California, so they did the next best thing. They created so-called “compliance cars” — vehicles that met the letter if not the spirit of the regulations. They were intended for sale only in California at first, but they were later made available in other states that adopted the CARB regulatory scheme.

For General Motors, the EV1 was how it planned to appease the CARB gods. People who leased one raved about its abundant power and nearly silent operation. But that didn’t stop GM from joining with other car makers to attack the rules CARB set down. The industry argued that electric cars were too expensive, there was an inadequate network of charging stations, and there was little demand among the general public for electric cars. Ultimately, the car companies prevailed and the rules were rescinded.

As soon as that happened, GM stopped building the EV1. When the outstanding leases were up, it quietly collected all of the cars and took them to a crusher where they were destroyed. There was a huge public outcry at the time, giving the lie to the claim that nobody wanted to buy an electric car. (See the movie Who Killed The Electric Car?) People who had leased an EV1 were particularly upset and went around acting like someone had just shot the family dog.

That’s pretty much how things remained until Martin Eberhard created a marriage of lithium ion battery cells with the tzero sports car, an event that led more or less directly to the start of Tesla Motors. Today, Tesla has sold nearly 200,000 premium electric cars at prices comparable to the best luxury sedans from Mercedes, BMW, and Audi. In addition, some 380,000 people worldwide have plunked down $1,000 to reserve a Tesla Model 3, the midsize car due to go into production late next year. So much for there being no demand!

In addition, Tesla has reached into its own pocket to create a worldwide network of charging stations to address the concern that people who drive an electric car have that they will run out of battery power while away from home.

None of that has stopped Mark Fields, CEO of Ford, from puckering up to plant a big wet kiss on The Donald. Fields wants Trump to eviscerate the current emissions and fuel economy rules imposed by the EPA. Tired of all the sniveling by the manufacturers, the EPA last week went ahead and formalized an extension of those rules until 2025. “We can’t make any money!” Fields screams while the US auto industry is powering toward another year of strong sales.

Fields trots out the same tired shibboleths used by the industry 20 years ago to rail against electric cars — they are too expensive, there is no charging infrastructure, and nobody wants to buy the damned things in the first place. Nowhere in Fields’s plaint is there any mention of the environment and how fossil fuels imperil the entire population of the world with premature death and disease. “Profits before people” has been the rallying cry for business in the United States ever since “Engine Charlie” Wilson told Congress in 1953, “For years I thought what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa.”

20 years on from the EV1, are electric cars any closer to public acceptance than they were in 1996? Despite the pulings and dark mutterings from Fields and his colleagues, the answer is a resounding “Yes!” The major German manufacturers have decided to dig deep to create a network of high power chargers in Europe. (Ironically, Ford of Europe is part of that group.) Car companies all over the globe are racing to bring electric cars to market. That includes plug-in hybrids which some people think should not be called electric cars at all.

The Chevy Bolt is on its way to showrooms in California and Oregon as we speak. Mercedes is ramping up its EQ electric car division. Volkswagen is planning its own electric car brand known as I.D. In the end, what will put electric cars over the top is not range or price. The second revolution that is building strength every day is the shift from private car ownership to carsharing networks of autonomous driving cars. While a self-driving car does not need to be electric to function, the two technologies go together like peanut butter and jelly.

The electric cars of today are like the early flip phones. Connected, self-driving cars will be like iPhones. Once people experience the convenience and low cost associated with not owning a car at all and merely renting one on an as needed basis, there will be no turning back. Elon Musk has every intention of making the Model 3 the first new car ever introduced with full self-driving capability from day one. The rest of the industry will be racing to catch up with Tesla once again.

The 20 year anniversary of the EV1 may look like not much has changed, but by the time its 30 year anniversary rolls around, the world of cars will have unalterably changed and there will be no going back.

Sources: Autoblog, Green Car Reports

CARB, EV1, Ford, And Trump — Where Do We Go From Here?

In December, 1996, General Motors began leasing its innovative EV1 to customers in California. The EV1 generated a great deal of interest in electric cars but there was a reason why it was only available in California. The California Air Resources Board had promulgated regulations requiring manufacturers to sell zero emission cars if they want to continue doing business in the state.

California has been the largest car market in the US for decades. As distasteful as the zero emissions rules were to car makers, they could not bring themselves to ignore California, so they did the next best thing. They created so-called “compliance cars” — vehicles that met the letter if not the spirit of the regulations. They were intended for sale only in California at first, but they were later made available in other states that adopted the CARB regulatory scheme.

For General Motors, the EV1 was how it planned to appease the CARB gods. People who leased one raved about its abundant power and nearly silent operation. But that didn’t stop GM from joining with other car makers to attack the rules CARB set down. The industry argued that electric cars were too expensive, there was an inadequate network of charging stations, and there was little demand among the general public for electric cars. Ultimately, the car companies prevailed and the rules were rescinded.

As soon as that happened, GM stopped building the EV1. When the outstanding leases were up, it quietly collected all of the cars and took them to a crusher where they were destroyed. There was a huge public outcry at the time, giving the lie to the claim that nobody wanted to buy an electric car. (See the movie Who Killed The Electric Car?) People who had leased an EV1 were particularly upset and went around acting like someone had just shot the family dog.

That’s pretty much how things remained until Martin Eberhard created a marriage of lithium ion battery cells with the tzero sports car, an event that led more or less directly to the start of Tesla Motors. Today, Tesla has sold nearly 200,000 premium electric cars at prices comparable to the best luxury sedans from Mercedes, BMW, and Audi. In addition, some 380,000 people worldwide have plunked down $1,000 to reserve a Tesla Model 3, the midsize car due to go into production late next year. So much for their being no demand!

In addition, Tesla has reached into its own pocket to create a worldwide network of charging stations to address the concern that people who drive an electric car have that they will run out of battery power while away from home.

None of that has stopped Mark Fields, CEO of Ford, from puckering up to plant a big wet kiss on The Donald. Fields wants Trump to eviscerate the current emissions and fuel economy rules imposed by the EPA. Tired of all the sniveling by the manufacturers, the EPA last week went ahead and formalized an extension of those rules until 2025. “We can’t make any money!” Fields screams while the US auto industry is powering toward another year of strong sales.

Fields trots out the same tired shibboleths used by the industry 20 years ago to rail against electric cars — they are too expensive, there is no charging infrastructure, and nobody wants to buy the damned things in the first place. Nowhere in Field’s plaint is there any mention of the environment and how fossil fuels imperil the entire population of the world with premature death and disease. “Profits before people” has been the rallying cry for business in the United States ever since “Engine Charlie” Wilson told Congress in 1953, “For years I thought what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa.”

20 years on from the EV1, are electric cars any closer to public acceptance than they were in 1996? Despite the pulings and dark mutterings from Fields and his colleagues, the answer is a resounding “Yes!” The major German manufacturers have decided to dig deep to create a network of high power chargers in Europe (Ironically, Ford of Europe is part of that group.) Car companies all over the globe are racing to bring electric cars to market. That includes plug-in hybrids which some people think should not be called electric cars at all.

The Chevy Bolt is on its way to showrooms in California and Oregon as we speak. Mercedes is ramping up is EQ electric car division. Volkswagen is planning its own electric car brand known as I.D. In the end, what will put electric cars over the top is not range or price. The second revolution that is building strength every day is the shift from private car ownership to car sharing networks of autonomous driving cars. While a self driving car does not need to be electric to function, the two technologies go together like peanut butter and jelly.

The electric cars of today are like the early flip phones. Connected, self driving cars will be like iPhones. Once people experience the convenience and low cost associated with not owning a car at all and merely renting one on an as needed basis, there will be no turning back. Elon Musk has every intention of making the Model 3 the first new car every introduced with self driving capability from day one. The rest of the industry will be racing to catch up with Tesla once again.

The 20 year anniversary of the EV1 may look like not much as changed, but by the time its 30 year anniversary rolls around, the world of cars will have unalterably changed and there will be no going back.

Source: AutoGlog, Green Car Reports

Details About Hyundai Ioniq Electric Car Emerge

Hyundai took center stage in green car news this week when its Ioniq Hybrid was confirmed by the EPA to have the highest fuel economy of any hybrid — 58 mpg combined. Move over, Toyota Prius Eco. There’s a new sheriff in town. Impressive, right?

Yes, it certainly is, but Hyundai has other things in mind for the Ioniq. In addition to a plug-in hybrid version coming next year, an all electric version will debut in 2017 as well. That car will offer many features not available from other electric car brands. Let’s start with the big news. Hyundai will offer a full lifetime guarantee on the battery in its electric car and in the plug-in hybrid. That should go a long way toward reassuring customers who worry about an expensive battery replacement in their future.

While it’s true that there are almost no news reports about battery replacements being a regular thing, people still think, “What if…..?” Those jitters were fueled in part by issues Nissan had with some of the batteries in early LEAFs, especially those in hot climates like Arizona. Even though Nissan stepped up to upgrade the battery and covered any needed replacements, it still left a doubt in peoples’ minds that lingers today.

I purchased a Toyota Prius in October, 2006. I had already made up my mind I would trade it in before the battery warranty ran out at 100,000 miles before I left the showroom and I did. The thought of spending thousands to replace the battery after the odometer turned into 6 digit territory made me very uncomfortable. This is very smart marketing by Hyundai. It totally takes one factor keeping people from buying an electric car completely out of the equation.

The other factor is price. As good as some of today’s electric and plug-in hybrid cars are, they are expensive compared to the garden variety Corollas and Civics that mainstream buyers can afford. The Ioniq Electric will have a relatively short 124 mile range. That is far more than 95% of drivers need on a daily basis but far less than offered by most of the competition. Will that stop people from buying one? It’s all about the price, isn’t it? With half the battery size of the Bolt and Tesla Model 3, the Ioniq Electric should sell for thousands less.

The Ioniq Electric can recharge in about four hours and 25 minutes. That’s faster than the six hours needed for the LEAF but slightly longer than the four hour charge time for the E-Golf. In quick charge mode, the Ioniq can get to an 80% state of charge in 23 minutes. That may give it a big advantage over the Chevy Bolt, which will not offer fast charging capability, at least not initially.

The Ioniq Electric is part of a broader effort by Hyundai to reach younger consumers who expect electrification to be baked into their cars. Millennials will account for 40% of new car purchases by 2020 and Hyundai believes they are more likely to consider alternative fuel vehicles than older shoppers.

Though stricter CAFE rules could change under President-elect Donald Trump, Hyundai thinks electrification will be part of a permanent shift in consumer preferences. Plug-ins  and electrics are better suited to urban areas than traditional gasoline or diesel engines and Millennials have demonstrated a preference to live in cities. “There’s a significant group of owners that still prioritize fuel economy,” said Mike O’Brien, Hyundai’s vice president of product, corporate, and digital planning.

Hyundai may be working a version of the Ioniq Electric with greater range for more money. Tesla has been quite successful offering its customers options when it comes to range and pricing. No doubt, Hyundai has been watching and learning from the upstart Silicon Valley automaker.

Source: AutoBlog   Photo credit: Hyundai

Toyota Caves, Will Build Electric Cars After All

It started when the tidal wave swept over the Fukushima nuclear power plant on March 11, 2011. Up until that point, Japan was relying on nuclear power to provide the majority of its electrical energy. Afterwards, it decided fairly quickly to pin all its energy hopes on hydrogen. The Japanese government put pressure on the domestic car companies — primarily Toyota and Honda — to focus almost exclusively on hydrogen fuel cell technology. It put out the word that the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo would be a celebration of clean hydrogen power.

Hydrogen is a very appealing fuel. When you run it through a fuel cell, it makes electricity that can power an electric motor. The only by-products are water vapor and heat. How could anything be greener than that?

There are a few problems with hydrogen, though. For one, it does not exist in its pure form in nature. Hydrogen is the most reactive of all the elements, which means it combines like crazy with just about any other element. Add a few oxygen atoms and you get water. Throw carbon into the mix and you get oil and natural gas. Breaking the chemical bonds between hydrogen and oxygen — or hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon — takes enormous amounts of energy. In fact, in most cases the energy that needs to go in exceeds the energy available in the hydrogen that results.

Oh, there’s one more little issue. There are fewer hydrogen refueling stations than there are Donald Trump supporters in Mexico City. If you happen to own a car that runs on hydrogen, like the Toyota Mirai, you are pretty much limited to driving within a 50 mile radius of the nearest station.

One more little quibble, hardly worth mentioning. A fuel cell does not make enough electricity to hurl a car down a drag strip at eye watering speeds. The acceleration available is modest at best. Don’t expect to see any videos of a Mirai outgunning a Ferrari or a Dodge Hellcat in a race. Not gonna happen. Toyota went so far as to run a YouTube campaign mocking electric cars, especially Teslas, after Elon Musk labeled fuel cell cars as “bullshit.” Those videos are no longer available for public viewing.

Just last week, Koji Toyoshima, the chief engineer for the Toyota Prius, told the world that Toyota now believes it has the technology available to make lithium ion batteries safe to use in passenger cars. A week later comes word that Toyota is actually going to make an electric car. In fact, development will start next year with the first cars due in 2020. That story was reported by Nikkei, a Japanese business newspaper.

Toyota has refused to confirm or deny the report which says the first electric cars from Toyota would have a range of 186 miles. If that is the number from the Japanese rating standard, the actual EPA rated mileage would be roughly 25% less or around 140 miles. In that case, the electric cars from Toyota, when and if they ever go on sale, will have less range than most of their competitors. For instance, the Chevy Bolt that goes into production later this year has 100 miles more range. By 2020, 140 miles will be laughably low.

“Toyota has been a major hold-out on EVs, but it appears that it now realizes that without them it may be difficult to satisfy tightening regulations,” said Takeshi Miyao, managing director of consultancy Carnorama. “Not (including EVs as an option) would run the risk that it could face sales restrictions in some areas.”All Toyota will say is that it continues to develop various fuel efficient technologies, including EVs, with the best application for each in mind. By 2020, Toyota will be 8 years behind Tesla in making electric cars. Good luck clawing back market share already lost to Tesla by then.

Source: Reuters

BNEF On Electric Cars: This Changes Everything

Michael Liebreich is chairman of the advisory board and Angus McCrone is editor in chief of Bloomberg New Energy Finance. This week, the pair wrote an article in BNEF that looks at the social and economic changes that will follow as a result of the transition to electric cars. The alterations, they predict, will be massive and will effect virtually every sector of the economy.

Liebreich and McCrone believe we are at a tipping point — one of those occasions when tiny changes add up to transformative alterations. Tipping points are hard to see in real time, but can usually be identified in hindsight. The two authors point to the mobile phone as one such transformation. One day, some trendy people started replacing their home phones with cell phones. Now they could place and receive calls anywhere on earth — just as long as there was a cell tower within range.

Before long, apps came along that allowed us to find highly recommended restaurants nearby, read our e-mail, plan a route from Okefenokee to Oskkosh, and keep track of how many steps we take each day. What was once a phone changed into a never before seen device. one that everyone wanted. As so often happens with technology, volume sales drove prices down to the point where virtually anybody could afford one. The latest cell phones are making the sharing economy possible. New industries like Uber and Lyft would not exist were it not for the GPS enabled smartphone.

The authors think the same thing is about to happen with electric cars. Here is a sampling of the changes they foresee.

Vehicle maintenance and retail:

Since electric cars require much less routine maintenance, both dealer service facilities and neighborhood repair shops will have less business. Auto body repair will be less in demand once autonomous cars learn how not to run into each other. The auto insurance industry may wither away.  Auto parts stores will see lower demand for their products.

People will prefer Tesla-like sales stores rather than traditional car dealers. Just those changes alone will be monumental, but Leibreich and McCrone aren’t done. In fact, they are just getting started.

Fueling and charging infrastructure:

More electric cars means lower demand for gasoline. Gas stations may no longer be profitable, so they will have to figure out new ways to sell things to people waiting to charge their cars. Private charging networks will proliferate. People who make home chargers and charging stations for work locations should thrive. The demand for electricians should increase.

Urban transportation:

Some of the most dramatic changes will occur in urban environments. Ride hailing and ride sharing services (enabled by smartphones) may take as much as 3/4 of all cars off the road, making congestion a thing of the past. Typically, an automobile is only in use about 10% of the day or less. If it can be put to work during that 90% of the time when it would normally sit idle, cities would be quieter, friendlier to pedestrians and bicyclists, with much lower carbon dioxide levels.

The electrical grid:

Demand for electricity should go up, but people who drive electric cars won’t want to recharge them using power that comes from burning fossil fuels. Renewables will continue to fall in price, making them the first choice of utility companies.

Vehicle to grid systems may allow millions of electric cars to store excess electrical power and feed it back into the grid as needed. The grid itself will change dramatically so it can accept small inputs from everywhere instead of massive inputs from a few centralized locations. Used EV batteries may be re-purposed as grid storage devices. New businesses will be created to recycle old batteries.

Pity the poor tax man:

Gasoline and diesel taxes generate substantial revenue for national and local governments. As sales of gasoline decline, governments will have to scramble to make up the deficit. We are already seeing the devastation that low oil prices and falling demand are causing in many oil producing nations. No one wants to predict armed conflict, but unstable governments may lead to revolutions.

Hindsight is 20/20. Foresight is far less accurate. But the changes Liebreich and McCrone predict may be just the beginning of the changes electric cars will bring. If you close your eyes and listen closely, you can almost sense the tipping point when electric cars go mainstream approaching. The changes have already begun and there is nothing anyone — not even Donald Trump — can do to stop them.

Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance via TreeHugger

Ford Model E May Be Built In Mexico

Ford is gearing up to build its Model E at a new factory in Mexico, according to reports. Ford claimed the Model E name back in 2013, which caused Tesla’s Elon Musk a great deal of emotional distress. Musk has long thought the entire Tesla model line up would consist of cars named S, E, X, and Y. He was mightily annoyed when he found out Ford had the rights to Model E, accusing Ford of trying to “kill sex.” Tesla has every opportunity to claim the name for itself but failed to act quickly enough.

Ford C Max Hybrid. Photo credit: Digital Trends

Not much is known about the new Ford car except that it will be built on an all new chassis designed from the ground up to be powered by a battery and an electric motor. Industry sources claim it will also accommodate hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains. If so, it will be the second company to offer a full range of alternative fuel vehicles built on a common chassis. The new Hyundai Ioniq was the first. Reportedly, Honda plans to offer a battery electric and a plug-in hybrid car based on the same chassis as its fuel cell powered Clarity.

It is important for manufacturers to make the platform they build their cars on as adaptable as possible. Not only does that lower development costs, it also allows the factory to adapt quickly to changes in the marketplace. If customers want more plug-ins or battery cars, the production mix can be altered quickly to meet demand. Ford does have a few hybrid and  plug-in hybrid models, but they are now almost 8 years old and overdue for a refresh. It may be cheaper for Ford to build one chassis for many cars rather than re-engineer its existing alternative fuel models.

The new Ford plant in Mexico was the focus of controversy last week. Presidential candidate Donald Trump assailed the plan as slap in the face to American workers. “This transaction is an absolute disgrace. Our dishonest politicians and the special interests that control them are laughing in the face of all American citizens. When I am president, we will strongly enforce trade rules against unfair foreign subsidies, and impose countervailing duties to prevent egregious instances of outsourcing.” Trump apparently feels he will not be bound by annoying details like international treaties.

According to Digital Trends, the new factory will have a capacity of 300,000 cars annually. At present, Ford thinks about 50,000 of them will be Model E’s. It will shift production of the Focus to the Mexican plant when it begins production in 2019. The Model E is billed as a “Prius fighter,” although with Prius sales falling dramatically in this time of low gas prices, Ford may be a little late getting into the hybrid game.