With us now, is Malcolm Bricklin, CEO of Visionary Vehicles.
Hello, everyone.
We have been hearing a couple of things about this news that Ford Motor Company is slashing up to 30,000 jobs, shutting down 14 plants nationwide. Is it a big deal if we are no longer manufacturing these cars, Malcolm?
I think it's a huge deal. I mean the companies are massive employers both directly and indirectly. If you look at Ford after their restructuring, they've actually got 87,000 employees which is twice as many as Microsoft have worldwide. Moreover, if you look at those jobs, they are very high-paying jobs. These are people who can afford to buy their own products.
Er, it seems to indicate a big hit for our economy if these jobs go bye-bye.
Yeah, it's a really sad day for America.
But it is not as if cars are stopped being made, right?
Correct. Still a large number of cars are being made by American manufacturers. More than half of the American cars sold in America are American. So what has happened over time is that as the market share has fallen, foreign car companies have come in, taken over plants and set up new plants, and they have taken over that capacity. So, it is not like there are fewer cars being produced in America than there were 30 years ago.
Let me ask you about the Chinese coming in. What would it mean to American jobs, if and when that happens?
The Chinese cars we have seen so far aren't that great and they don't have the branding necessary to make a huge impact in the world stage.