Two years ago, Ford Motor tooted publicly about its decision to keep much of its manufacturing in the United States.
Citing the results of an S&P Global Mobility report, the automaker issued a press release pointing out that 80% of its vehicles are made in America by a domestic workforce of 57,000. The automaker also declared that the 1.8 million vehicles it built domestically beat the runner-up in that ranking (Stellantis, though Ford didn’t mention it by name) by 130,000 vehicles.
“Ford is the most American of all car companies,” executive chairman Bill Ford said in a statement. “It is because of our belief in our workforce and in America that we build more vehicles and have more hourly employees here than in other countries.”
At the time, it was easy to dismiss announcements like this as so much PR blather. Not anymore.
In light of the dizzying tariffs announced by the Trump Administration on April 2—and especially in the wake of the 25% tariff on imported auto parts that kicked in earlier this week—what might have been shrugged off as Ford’s braggadocio is suddenly looking pretty legit.
Ford announced its Q1 earnings on May 5 and, while its revenues of $40.7 billion represented a 5% dip from the same period last year and “tariff-related uncertainty” prompted the company to suspend its guidance, company officials sounded an optimistic note about its reduced exposure to tariffs as a result of its extensive domestic manufacturing.
Addressing the tariff situation, CEO Jim Farley told analysts that “it’s clear that in this new environment, automakers with the largest U.S. footprint will have a big advantage, and boy is that true for Ford. It puts us in the pole position.”
By how much? According to data from Barclays and The Economist, 77% of Ford’s vehicles are made in the U.S., a 3% variation from S&P’s 80% figure but still a big chunk. By comparison, Stellantis, parent of Chrysler, makes only 57% of its cars domestically. General Motors is neck-and-neck with Nissan, at 52%. (Technically speaking, it’s Tesla that’s in the pole position, since 100% of its cars are made in the U.S. But Tesla holds only 4.2% of the automotive market overall, compared to Ford’s nearly 13%.)
While the future may look brighter for Ford compared to its rivals, it’s all a matter of degree, of course. While Ford builds its popular F-Series trucks in plants in Louisville, Kentucky, and Avon Lake, Ohio, other models including its Mustang Mach-E and Bronco Sport SUV roll out of plants in Mexico.
