There’s been much hard, straight, optimistic us talk in recent days. Roads, automotive jobs and retailing plus ground-breaking automobile deals have been at the heart of the dialogue. and the uplifting tone is no doubt bringing smiles to American faces.
“We will build gleaming new roads, bridges, highways,” Donald Trump and transportation secretary Elaine Chao promised last week when discussing their imminent $1.5 trillion spending blitz on infrastructure. Trump is even said to be donating a large chunk of his presidential salary to America’s carry cause. Can’t remember the last time I heard a British leader dare utter politically incorrect swear words such as road, motorway or bridge; never mind offer some of his/her personal money to help fund them.
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• Opinion: Trump’s domestic auto firms are increasingly weak
Incoming CEO Jim Hackett is being brutally (or stupidly?) honest by conceding that Ford has “not done enough to be fit”. To turn things around, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Ford concentrating more on big pick-ups and profitable SUVs and less on the superminis and city automobiles that have notoriously tough margins.
Over the road at GM, CEO Mary Barra is threatening a full or partial pull-out from South Korea, before moving investment cash and jobs from Asia back to her native Detroit. As I’ve mentioned before, Korean auto workers are among the most expensive on earth, and are clearly pricing themselves out of the market.