The US Government has criticised Ford’s increasingly close ties to China in the same week that the manufacturer revealed a China-centric plan for Australia.
Ford’s Australian arm revealed plans to import two vehicles from China this week – the hybrid-powered Bronco Basecamp SUV, and an electric van for delivery companies.
It’s part of a push by company president Jim Farley to modernise Ford. Farley travelled to Australia this year to try cars from rival brands such as BYD and GWM, companies he has described as an “existential threat” to the established car industry.
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“Australia has become ground zero for the global industry,” Farley said in March, when he described the local market as “a cauldron of innovation and brutal competition”.
Having lost ground to the likes of BYD, Ford’s Australian arm turned to a Chinese joint venture to make its showroom more competitive.
While Ford’s US arm does not import vehicles from China, the brand has deals with Chinese firms such as battery producer CATL and carmakers BYD and Geely that have earned the ire of officials in Washington.
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US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy published a letter to Ford’s Jim Farley on Tuesday, when he said the government was “deeply alarmed” by Ford’s approach, and urged it to cut ties with China.
Duffy wrote “to express profound concern … regarding the strategic trajectory of [Ford] specifically as it pertains to American national automotive manufacturing integrity, supply chain exposure, and reliance on technologies of foreign adversaries”.
“The Company’s recent strategic decisions paint a troubling picture of a foundational American brand actively intertwining its future with Chinese state-backed enterprises,” Duffy wrote in the letter.
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“When a company intentionally chooses to deepen operational dependencies on strategic competitors, it fails to act as the reliable partner the American public and this DOT require.
“Attempting to navigate current circumstances in ways that could enrich those very competitors is not a sustainable strategy for the United States.”
Ford responded by criticising errors in Duffy’s letter, which the manufacturer described as “a wrongheaded attempt to capture headlines at the expense of a company that has done more for American manufacturing than virtually any other in the nation’s history”.
“Ford is the most American automaker,” the brand said in a statement.
“We produce more vehicles in the US, employ more hourly manufacturing workers and export more vehicles from the US than any other automaker.”
Ford’s Australian boss, Fadi Mawal, says Ford’s pivot to a couple of China-sourced models is not a case of “if you can’t beat them, join them”.
“I’m not even sure I’d say ‘joining them’, because we’re bringing in products that we think meet the needs of customers,” he said.
“The difference is they’re backed by a brand that builds trust with customers, has an after sales network that some of the new brands can’t match … it’s a different offering.”
