Ford chairman Bill Ford warns Chinese cars will eventually reach US showrooms

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Bill Ford says Chinese automakers will eventually make it to American showrooms.

Henry Ford’s great-grandson said the US must compete, not rely on trade barriers.

Chinese cars have made it to Canada and Mexico, but are still locked out of the US.

America’s auto industry relies on tariffs and regulations to keep Chinese automakers at arm’s length. But according to Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford, that protection might not last forever, and Detroit needs to be ready when the competition finally arrives.

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Speaking at an Axios event in Washington, D.C., Ford argued that the industry can’t simply assume Chinese brands will remain locked out of the US market indefinitely. Instead, he believes American automakers need to develop products capable of competing directly against the rapidly advancing companies emerging from China.

Preparing For The Inevitable

“We have to go toe-to-toe with China ,” Ford said, according to The Wall Street Journal . “We can’t expect to keep them out forever, and we have to be able to beat them at their own game.”

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Related: Ford Is Partnering With The Chinese Automakers It’s Fighting To Keep Out Of America

But US lawmakers are currently considering legislation that would effectively shut the door on Chinese vehicles entering the American market. Ford has publicly supported those efforts, citing concerns about protecting domestic manufacturing from rapidly improving Chinese automakers that are winning customers in Ford’s overseas markets thanks to increasingly sophisticated technology and competitive pricing.

China’s Already Shaping Detroit

Even without a meaningful presence in America, Chinese manufacturers are already influencing strategies inside Detroit boardrooms. Ford is preparing to launch a new affordable electric pickup (above) designed to cost around $30,000 when it arrives in 2027. The truck uses new manufacturing techniques like gigacasting and slimmed-down wiring looms intended to reduce production costs and improve efficiency.

Bill Ford also used the discussion to call for a more consistent long-term industrial strategy in the United States. Automotive investments often take years to plan and execute, creating a mismatch between business timelines and political cycles.

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“Our lead times are longer than political lead times,” Ford said, according to the WSJ.

Whether Chinese brands and models like the Ranger-sized BYD Shark 6 truck (below), which is already a runaway success in Australia , will ever gain meaningful access to the US remains uncertain. But industry leaders like Bill Ford believe preparing for that possibility is far smarter than pretending it’ll never happen.

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Ford, BYD, Baldauf