If Wishes Were Horses

In partnership with

It’s been a month now since Elon Musk stood at a podium with the seal of the President of the United States and had his heart explode with gratitude towards everyone. Yes, it’s only been a month.

In This Issue

• Department of Corrections

• God Save the King

• Ford’s Delaying Next-Gen F-150

• Holding Out for a Hero

Department of Corrections

In Monday’s installment of “The Report,” I talked about how in Sweden making a vehicle purchase decision — mainly the powertrain operating it — wasn’t a political decision. A reader very accurately reminded me that Sweden does have a federal incentive for plugged-in vehicles. Of course, any incentive program coming from a political body — which the government is — would make it political, so the decision-making process is still politicized there. I regret the error.

Some context I would like to add, though, would be that the stigma doesn’t appear to exist in other parts of the world. Buying an EV doesn’t make you “woke.” I wish that was also the case in the United States, considering the planet is starting to boil and governments should be yielding their political power to help society counter that as much as we all can. But I digress.

Stay up-to-date with AI

The Rundown is the most trusted AI newsletter in the world, with 1,000,000+ readers and exclusive interviews with AI leaders like Mark Zuckerberg, Demis Hassibis, Mustafa Suleyman, and more.

Their expert research team spends all day learning what’s new in AI and talking with industry experts, then distills the most important developments into one free email every morning.

Plus, complete the quiz after signing up and they’ll recommend the best AI tools, guides, and courses – tailored to your needs.

Sign up to start learning.

God Save the King

Earlier this week, King Trump’s Secretary of Transportation announced that the Crown would terminate its tolling approval for New York City’s congestion charging. While the MTA is fighting it in court, this continues an effort of the Crown to eliminate anything that it sees as being “woke,” “good for people,” or “good for the planet.”

Congestion charging has been an absolute boon to Manhattan. Trip times across the island have been reduced by 10-30%. City buses in the zone are 48% more on time. Speeds in the zone have also increased by 22%.

Public transit use is up, accidents are down, deaths are down, and business is up thanks to increased foot traffic. Manhattan has never been a car-friendly community, so all of this makes sense without much disruption in everyday life.

But since some folks in New Jersey are big mad about it, and Trump hates anything good that doesn’t benefit him directly, he and His Majesty’s government are trying to take it away.

As part of a social media push following the announcement from the star of Road Rules: All Stars, several AI-assisted images came out showing Donald Trump as a king wearing a crown. One mimicked a Time Magazine cover saying “Long Live the King.”

Considering how much he likes burgers, you could say that burgers are his domain. The monarch of all things burgers. The Burger King, if you will.

“Focusing on his ridiculous statements is stupid because he’s doing legit bad things.”

I hear you. I do. But he’s doing all of those bad things because he actually believes he’s the king. His campaign centered around how Article II gave him unlimited powers over the government, and Congress has abdicated its Article I authority to keep Sir Sausage Fingers unchecked. Some politicians, who would normally lose their collective shit over something like this, have said that breaking a few laws is okay and required to shake things up.

Trump is doing all the horrible things he’s doing because he thinks he’s king. So when he declares himself king, it’s a big deal, even if his defenders again just say he’s “making a joke” to “trigger the libs.”

As for the congestion charging in New York, I see it ultimately as a state issue. The states have the right to make these decisions, and the U.S. government or the Crown have no place to tell them otherwise. But since Republicans no longer believe in that, I expect congestion charging to be gone in the next few weeks.

Ford’s Delaying Next-Gen F-150

In news that probably wouldn’t surprise anyone, Ford is delaying the next-generation Ford F-150 pickup truck. Automotive News is reporting that the Blue Oval told its suppliers that it would delay the launch of the next-gen gasoline and hybrid F-150 until 2028 — up from the earlier 2027 changeover.

More details aren’t known, and of course, Ford doesn’t comment on future product speculation, but it’s also not a surprise if this were true. The trade war that we’ve irresponsibly entered is only going to get worse as King Trump increases the tariffs on all of our friends. Before it’s all said and done, no part of the automobile will be left unaffected by the increased tax, and some suppliers that rely on cross-border trade are in especially hot water.

Which leads me to the F-150 Lightning. The current F-150 has already seen a mild refresh, but there’s no word yet on the Lightning. Will we even see a future-generation electric pickup truck from Ford? Who knows. Magna, who supplies components for the Lightning, is in an especially precarious situation since the company is Canadian. Stellantis is trimming up its electric truck plans while GM is delaying production of Silverado and Sierra EVs at the company’s Orion Assembly Plant.

Are you tired of winning yet?

Holding Out for a Hero

Speaking of suppliers, my automotive supplier sources are telling me that many of them are just going to hold up and wait things out. In three or so years the government will hopefully change and some sense of normalcy will return to automotive.

I’m seeing similar sentiment from automakers as well. While tariffs are about to absolutely ravage the automotive industry, which will ravage the economy as a whole, nobody seems willing to speak up to the new King and speak any truth to power to him and his government.

Sure, being targeted by Trump would likely suck, but you might also encourage other people to come with you and also speak up. We’ve seen in the past Trump cave under any form of political opposition, so it stands to reason that it would work here, too. I’ve also said that an automaker who actively targets Tesla customers right now — when they all want to get out of their loans and cars — would win long-term in the hearts and minds of the public and have a full bank account.

Y’all are in the business of selling cars. Sitting on a cash position right now might make sense to your risk-averse legal team — or risk-averse institutional shareholders — while you slowly bleed cash might seem like the right move. That, of course, only works if you have enough cash to ride out however long this lasts while also ending up in a better cash position than your rivals when it’s all said and done.

Or you can — excuse the language — stand the fuck up, go after customers, defend the U.S. auto market and your business and your shareholders. And also the economy. And perhaps the actual republic itself.

Because here’s the thing: You might not have enough cash to ride this out. We might live in a new world order where your business doesn’t survive. If your business isn’t going to survive, how do you want to go out?

To put it more succinctly: It doesn’t matter if the band plays on the Titanic or not, the boat is going to sink. The band chose to play. So should you.