Automotive Engineering - March 2025 - 4

EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL
Sebastian Blanco
Editor-in-Chief
sebastian.blanco@saemediagroup.com
Wrecking Ball
It is a fool's errand to make timely comments
- in print! - about our current
political turmoil. Even so, it feels important
to place a marker in the sand to
note the ongoing political reign of tariff
threats, the upheaval potential of a demolished
regulatory state affecting road
and vehicle safety, and the damage that
cuts to electric vehicle support might
do to American automakers attempting
to keep technological pace with their
global automaker peers. It's a lot.
The mainstream press is reporting
the broad strokes of the industry's reaction
to the new president.
Ford CEO Jim Farley said
Trump's erratic threats
and changes are adding " a
lot of cost and a lot of
chaos " to the automotive
industry and that a 25%
tariff would " blow a hole
in the U.S. industry that
we've never seen. " Volvo
Cars CEO Jim Rowan said
that profitability would
suffer under any tariffs,
whether those are the general 25% tariffs
on Canada and Mexico (now seemingly
canceled after Trump backed
down), just-announced 10% tariffs on
steel and aluminum or some yet-to-bespoken-aloud
new tariff concept.
Industry analyst Sam Fiorani told The
Independent the obvious truth that
" raising the price of what is among the
most important components of the vehicle
is only going to raise the prices of
an already expensive product. "
It's a lot.
We all know - because we hear it all
the time, because it's true - that
changes take time in the automotive
industry. Pushed by competition and
customers, OEMs are discovering just
how much faster they can develop new
models and technologies. An administration
tossing landmine after landmine
in their path isn't going to help.
And what happens in the R&D spaces?
Ford CEO
Jim Farley
said Trump's
erratic threats
and changes
are adding " a
lot of cost and
a lot of chaos "
How does one accurately make engineering
decisions given this level of tumult?
Do certain advances in steel technology,
for example, have to be postponed
because of high supply costs?
The industry - and consumers - saw
what happened when chips became difficult
to get during the pandemic, but
who knows what might happen?
Preparing for an unknown future is
part and parcel of designing
a vehicle, but I've got
to imagine that engineering
offices around the U.S.
are having interesting discussions
about what to do
that we haven't seen in
ages. If you've been in any
of these meetings and
want to share your
thoughts (not trade secrets),
please reach out,
even anonymously.
I ask for your comments because
from what we can tell right now, the
people creating the chaos won't notice
or do much to fix problems that may hit
the industry. Legendary tech journalist
Kara Swisher has covered Silicon Valley
and ostensible automotive CEO Elon
Musk better than most anyone for the
past decade. Asked to assess the potential
carnage coming to the American
scene, not just the auto industry, she
said, " [People like Musk and Trump]
don't care about the consequences of
damage. They do not care. They don't
anticipate it. "
'They don't care for you, " she added.
" You are nothing. "
What is nothing's response?
Sebastian Blanco, Editor-in-Chief
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4 March 2025
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
Automotive Engineering - March 2025

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