John Hanighen

A shoutout to Ford’s PR team for its deft — and remarkably restrained — response to CEO Mary Barra’s audacious claim that General Motors in a few years will surpass Ford as the No. 1 automaker in the U.S. Long before President Trump’s election, Ford was promoting that it has been America’s No. 1 auto producer since 2009 and the leading exporter of American-assembled vehicles. “That’s who we are and who we always have been, regardless of policy or tariffs,” a Ford spokesman said in response to Barra’s claim. “If other automakers who rely heavily on importing foreign-made cars into the U.S. are now ‘getting religion,’ that’s good news for U.S. communities. But they have a long way to go to match Ford’s commitment to America.” The PR professionals who crafted that statement showed admirable restraint omitting the obvious: GM owes its continued existence to U.S. taxpayers. That GM is only now rediscovering its patriotic footing is telling. GM can legitimately boast that it is the largest automaker in Mexico, where it employs roughly 25,000 workers and recently announced a $1 billion investment at an EV factory there. Barra continues to describe EVs as GM’s “North Star,” and three of the most affordable EVs most likely to survive are manufactured outside the United States. GM has also announced a $300 million investment in South Korea to support the development and production of vehicles exported to the U.S. By contrast, GM’s U.S. manufacturing footprint for the near term is shrinking. The company just permanently laid off roughly 1,100 workers at Factory Zero in Detroit, where it builds high-priced electric trucks and SUVs amid softening demand and whipsawed production schedules. Ford’s electric F-150 Lightning outsold GM’s EV trucks and SUVs by a wide margin. Even so, Ford has halted Lightning production, pivoted toward hybrids, and delayed further EV expansion — a sober acknowledgment of market realities GM has trailed Ford admitting. Barra’s credibility problem isn’t new. She previously claimed GM’s autonomous Cruise unit would generate $50 billion in annual revenue by 2030 and that GM would outsell Tesla in EVs by the end of 2025. Barra shut down Cruise’s business in 2024. Execution issues continue to undercut Barra’s rhetoric. GM recently recalled about 80,000 Mexico-built 2025 and 2026 Chevy Equinox EVs because software failed to generate the federally required pedestrian warning sound — the same defect that prompted a recall of the 2024 model year. These are not the kinds of software lapses one expects from a professed cutting edge technology company that claims to attract the best and brightest in Silicon Valley.   Audacious claims are easy. Delivering on them is harder. GM’s record increasingly suggests that Mary Barra excels at the former while struggling with the latter.

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Automotive Parts Associates will hold its 2026 Annual General Meeting March 20 to 23 in Nashville, with supplier meetings, industry speakers and networking opportunities for APA and TruStar members. https://lnkd.in/gXs2uJRi

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Most operational mistakes aren’t about bad judgment, they’re about isolation. In this Gain Traction Podcast clip, Chuck Space of the Texas Tire & Automotive Association reframes how experienced operators actually make decisions when new services, vendor issues, or gray areas show up. If you lead a business and still rely on solo problem-solving, this perspective challenges that habit in a practical way. https://lnkd.in/g9m3qESQ #gaintractionpodcast #automotiveaftermarket #independentrepairshops

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