TOGETHER WITH:
Howdy, Fam!
What's actually real about Ford's $25,000 promise, and what's still just talk?
Ford showed dealers a sub-$25K crossover and a four-door Mustang at a private meeting last week, and one analyst didn't hold back on why Ford needed this in the first place: nobody can afford their trucks anymore.
Also in today's email:
The lease return wave that's about to hand dealers a customer and a used car at the same time, if they move first
Why Nissan's factory-floor AI cameras are protecting workers instead of watching them
VW's own investors demanding faster action, China's 10th straight month of sales declines, and a $211 billion record in U.S. auto loans
Keep Pushing Back,
—Chris with Paul, Kyle & Kristi
Reading time: 4 mins
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Ford's Reputation Problem Isn't the Trucks. It's the Price Tag.
Ford showed dealers a $25,000 crossover and a sub-$40,000 four-door Mustang at a private Las Vegas meeting, undercutting its own $29,000 Maverick and $30,000 Fathom EV pickup. The vehicle isn't expected until 2029.
Ford, I'm gonna rank you as a B. You used to be an A, and we all know why. No one can afford your cars.
Want the full conversation?
🎙️ Listen to today's Automotive State of the Union episode for the complete discussion.
That grade drop is the real headline here, and it's not about product quality. It's about a brand whose trucks now sit near six figures pricing out the exact customer who used to be Ford's on-ramp into the family.
What's Real, What's Still Just a Promise
The price is real, the date isn't close, 2029 is four years out.
It undercuts Ford's own "cheap" stuff, the Maverick and Fathom.
The four-door Mustang is either bold or baffling, depending who you ask.
Hybrid production is reportedly headed to Mexico, worth watching given how tariff strategy has driven other automakers' plant decisions.
So is $25,000 actually the fix, or just the promise?
Right now it's a promise, and a four-year one. Worth having an honest answer ready when a customer asks about it before 2029.
I’LL BE BACK.
Customers are more likely to return when the dealership introduces them to service, schedules the first appointment, and stays connected after the sale.
That is what dealers are talking about this week at NAMAD 2026. Whether you’re at the show or back at the dealership, read how a stronger sales-to-service handoff can help bring more customers back to the dealership.
The Lease Return Wave Is Coming Back. Get Ahead of It Before Auction Does.
Penske expects lease maturities to climb sharply, Toyota returns from 4,200 to 5,600 next year, BMW from 9,500 to 10,700. Its own lease penetration already sits ten points above the industry average.
Consider this today
Know your own maturity numbers over the next 12 months, and reach out before the manufacturer's lease-end letter does. Whoever talks to the customer first about their options usually keeps them.
Dealers Are Building Real Insurance Agencies, Not Just Selling Policies
One Oklahoma dealer's independent insurance agency wrote nearly $3 million in business within months of launch and saved his stores six figures on floorplan coverage by shopping separately.
But it's not a quick win: experts say it takes about three years of patience before an agency turns real profit, and one dealer group's cautionary tale, a shuttered Allstate partnership that never generated enough upfront income, shows how easily this can fail if it's treated as a side project instead of its own business.
VW's Own Investors Are Telling Management to Move Faster
Volkswagen's controlling Porsche and Piëch families publicly pushed management for immediate action against Chinese competition, backing plans to cut up to 100,000 jobs.
When your own largest shareholder says "we don't have time," that's a company under real pressure to execute, not just plan, a useful gut-check for any leadership team tempted to keep deliberating past the point of usefulness.
🚘 Car Stuff
Nissan's AI cameras are tracking factory worker movements at its Canton, Mississippi plant to prevent injury rather than police performance, contributing to roughly $34 million in savings so far.
China's car sales fell for a 10th straight month in July, down 21.1%, even as exports surged 88.2% as automakers lean harder into overseas markets to offset the domestic slump.
U.S. auto loan originations hit a record $211 billion in Q2, though only in nominal terms, and overall delinquency actually ticked down to 4.7%, a sign household finances are holding up better than the headline borrowing number suggests.
Manual transmissions are nearly extinct in the UK, down to just 7.9% of new car orders this year, as automatics get cheaper and EVs and hybrids, which are automatic-only, keep gaining share.
💰 Not Car Stuff
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The University of Michigan is dropping first-semester letter grades for incoming freshmen, sparking a genuinely split debate online about whether the move builds resilience or removes the very pressure that builds it.
Speed and stealth, from the sky and the ground. A paramedic used a single-passenger electric aircraft to beat an ambulance to two 911 calls in North Carolina, while Ukraine approved an electric, mine-resistant motorcycle for battlefield reconnaissance.
The AI slop backlash is starting to actually work. LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Substack have all rolled out tools to flag or limit AI-generated content after public pushback, and Meta pulled its Instagram deepfake feature within three days of viral backlash, proof that consumer pressure still moves fast-moving tech companies.
1877: Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, recording sound for the first time using indentations on a sheet of tinfoil.
1977: NASA's Voyager 2 launched, eventually becoming the first human-made object to explore all four outer planets before leaving the solar system.
1981: IBM introduced its first personal computer, the Model 5150, setting the template for home and office computing for decades.
