Ford plans to lobby Trump to soften fuel-economy rules that hurt profits by forcing automakers to build more electric cars and hybrids than customers want. Prior to her appointment as Financial Director & company secretary for Automaker Media Group in 2011, Doris was head of department of business and economics at William Brookes College in Much Wenlock, UK. Her professional career has included financial and management roles at automotive suppliers, fashion brands, and engineering companies prior to Doris’s academic career lecturing at Staffordshire University, Stoke College, and later William Brookes College.
Automakers are not yet sure how Americans will react to the shrinking interior space, but Rebecca Lindland of IHS Automotive predicted strong growth in these segments, with at least 850,000 cars per year in the B-Segment by 2015, up from the current level of 300,000.
Since 2010, nine automakers, including General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler, have announced investments of more than $24 billion in Mexico, where wages are 80 per cent lower than in the U.S. Annual auto output in Mexico may more than double this decade, from 2 million to 5 million vehicles, according to the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.
That means two things have to happen: a major government, such as China’s, will have to require greatly increased EV sales; or gas prices will have to rise to the Moon, well past the $4-a-gallon level they hit in the US after the financial crisis, before the oil market tanked last year.
At the time of the bailout, many analysts felt that Chrysler would go bankrupt, even with a bailout, and Ford didn’t really need it. Therefore, the main impact from the bailout was to save jobs at GM. But the recession caused GM to slash its employment and production, whether it received a bailout or not.