Valuetainment - ＂Musk Is Kicking Their Butts＂ - Ford’s EV Gamble BACKFIRES In $19B WAKE-UP CALL

00:00:00.000 Ford writes down $19.5 billion as it pivots electric lighting line of vehicles.

00:00:11.740 And this is page 11 if you want to go to.

00:00:13.560 This is a fortune story.

00:00:17.260 So let's go through it.

00:00:18.700 So Ford searches for finding profitability for its electric vehicle continues.

00:00:23.380 So the Dearborn Michigan-based automaker will make a series of changes to its line of vehicles

00:00:27.440 and production facility to focus on producing affordable vehicles

00:00:31.120 that better align with customer desires it's announced on Monday.

00:00:35.620 The company will also scrap production of certain larger EVs, ready?

00:00:39.520 Including the F-150 Lightning, which it will retool as an electric vehicle with a gas-powered generator

00:00:46.140 as well as redouble development of smaller, lower-cost cars, including a mid-sized pickup truck in 2027.

00:00:54.420 I can go give a lot of other stats here, but I'm just going to go to Tom.

00:00:58.020 Tom, $19.5 billion, what's going on with Ford?

00:01:01.300 Well, I happen to think that a set of governors, blue governors, led by Gavin Newsom,

00:01:08.300 owe the shareholders probably half of that.

00:01:12.040 Because you had, you know, California said, oh, by 2030, what was it?

00:01:16.500 By 2030, you have to be 30% EVs.

00:01:19.400 They had these steps, and they basically stepped on, you know, the demand side of the automakers

00:01:25.360 and said, you will do this.

00:01:27.380 Meanwhile, California didn't have the electric infrastructure to do that,

00:01:30.620 and they don't even have the electric infrastructure to power the data centers

00:01:33.320 that are going to be in California, which is not as many as going to be elsewhere,

00:01:37.180 which is another story.

00:01:38.660 But you had, all the automakers got behind it, the point is.

00:01:42.240 Ford got behind it.

00:01:43.260 The F-150 Lightning pickup had a Super Bowl ad.

00:01:45.820 They had everything they were doing on this, and we can see Jim Farley is on here talking to,

00:01:51.020 who is that, Kudlow, about it.

00:01:53.560 And Mari Barra said, GM is all in.

00:01:56.260 As a matter of fact, Cadillac will be the all-electric division.

00:02:00.340 She went all in.

00:02:01.480 It was Cadillac going to be the all-electric division.

00:02:03.860 They all went there, and guess what they found out?

00:02:06.140 Battery technology is expensive to make.

00:02:08.620 They also found out that, guess what?

00:02:10.700 You know, you've got to be able to charge these things.

00:02:13.240 And then Elon Musk proved that he wasn't just Tesla.

00:02:16.560 He was a service station network selling, saying, hey, you use the same connector on the car.

00:02:21.440 You could use my superchargers everywhere.

00:02:23.740 But the automakers, excuse me, went all in.

00:02:27.220 And now they're backing off.

00:02:28.920 Tom, did they go all in because they didn't have a choice?

00:02:31.340 Was it a business move?

00:02:32.360 Was it a forced move?

00:02:33.680 It was.

00:02:34.600 They made a business decision at gunpoint of green legislation with states like California saying,

00:02:40.560 you will be this percent by this time.

00:02:43.240 So they had no choice.

00:02:44.460 But they also went all in.

00:02:47.120 And so because they believed, look, if you believe that Biden was going to be reelected or that Kamala was going to be elected or that the green, that AOC and the green mandate and everything was going to continue,

00:02:58.200 then you went that way to protect your business because, you know, under federal guidelines, you had to do it.

00:03:03.340 Meanwhile, the consumers were discovering that when you take that $7,500 subsidy, remember all the headlines about this, when you take that off, it points back to the hybrid vehicles being more cost effective.

00:03:17.880 And you have a Honda Civic hybrid that can go 600 miles because it's a small fuel tank and a little generator keeps recharging battery.

00:03:26.640 It's actually more efficient and it actually was less dollars.

00:03:30.340 And so Ford has said, listen, the all electric stuff, we can't make it work on a 5,000 pound pickup.

00:03:37.500 We can't make it work on the SUVs.

00:03:39.760 We're writing all that off, 19.5 written down.

00:03:42.620 But we're going to have a big effort to put the hybrids in the middle because we know Americans like the fact that the hybrids are more economically priced

00:03:51.500 and you can go 600, 700 miles on your crossover or your Honda Civic and that's where the market is.

00:03:59.320 But this is really – I feel like that California owes the Ford shareholders probably half of that $10 billion because that was done at legislative gunpoint

00:04:11.600 and they didn't have the electrical power infrastructure to really support.

00:04:15.880 If the consumers had done that, it would have been a brownout at night.

00:04:19.920 Okay.

00:04:20.180 So, Pomp, I'm going to come to you.

00:04:21.360 But I want you to think about this question as well.

00:04:23.540 So, what makes them say by 2030, like here's Newsom saying, issued an executive order requiring – these are mandates –

00:04:35.360 all new cars and passenger trucks sold in California to be zero emission by 2035.

00:04:41.920 This directive is the foundation of California's advanced clean cars, a second regulation targeting 100% of EV sales by 2035.

00:04:51.040 When they're saying things like this, are they working collaboratively with these automakers who know how difficult it is to do that? 0.98

00:04:59.620 Or is it just like a, hey, it's a marketing campaign, guys, press release, release that, here's what we got to do in California, shit. 0.98

00:05:05.380 Or is it more like, well, let's piss off Elon Musk a little bit? 0.99

00:05:08.100 What do you think it is?

00:05:09.380 I think that this is the classic mistake people make in business, which is people thought that the consumer was buying an electric vehicle because it was electric.

00:05:18.760 People are not buying a Tesla because it's electric.

00:05:20.720 They're buying it because it's a better car.

00:05:21.900 It just happens to be electric, and that's a huge difference, right?

00:05:24.740 If you get in a Tesla, the first time people sit in there, they feel like this is a car from the future.

00:05:29.000 This is a computer on wheels.

00:05:30.320 This thing is cool.

00:05:31.720 There's full self-driving, all that stuff now.

00:05:33.560 But before you even had the full self-driving, you got in, and everything was kind of reimagined.

00:05:37.580 You had the big screen.

00:05:38.480 You had all this, but it was a better experience as a car.

00:05:41.640 So what Elon did was Elon, I think very smartly, if you go back and you read his master plan for Tesla, et cetera, he said, listen, if I just show up, remember like the original electric vehicles?

00:05:49.880 They were kind of these small little things that kind of made you feel like maybe not as manly.

00:05:54.180 You get in this little thing, pull up, somebody sitting in an F-150 jacked up next to you at the red light, right?

00:05:59.600 People didn't want to ride in those things, right? 1.00

00:06:01.040 It was kind of like a stupid little car, almost like a clown car, right? 0.99

00:06:04.780 Well, what Elon did is he made the Tesla cool. 1.00

00:06:07.160 And so he started with the Roadster, and it was kind of like a sports car, right?

00:06:10.000 It was a higher price point.

00:06:11.260 It's a good point.

00:06:11.480 And people said, you know what?

00:06:12.320 It's a status thing.

00:06:13.860 Now, Elon has a history of doing this because, if you notice, he also made it cool to go work in the government, right?

00:06:18.500 So his whole thing is, can you make something high status?

00:06:20.680 And so by making the Tesla high status, people said, I want that car.

00:06:23.440 Oh, by the way, I will deal with the fact that it's electric.

00:06:26.160 Because I think a lot of people also, to Tom's point, it's easier just to go get gas at the gas station.

00:06:31.420 It's easier on a long trip.

00:06:32.860 It's easier, you know, if I don't have to go and charge this because I don't have a charger at my house and sit there for 25 minutes for it to charge up.

00:06:39.100 So Tesla being a superior car is what drove those sales.

00:06:42.880 Well, what did Ford and GM and all these guys do?

00:06:44.740 They basically said, we're going to take our exact same car, which is inferior to the Tesla, and we're simply going to try to rip out the gas engine and put it in an electric vehicle.

00:06:52.860 Most consumers buying a Ford F-150, they don't care about an electric vehicle.

00:06:57.580 And actually, that may be a negative.

00:07:00.280 Why would I want to buy a big truck that's electric if it's harder for me to go do the things I need to do?

00:07:05.780 So I think that's probably the biggest thing is when you do these mandates, they're, you know, again, let's just say they have good intentions.

00:07:10.800 You can question whether they do or not.

00:07:12.140 But it doesn't address the actual driver of the consumer behavior.

00:07:16.080 You have to make the car cool.

00:07:17.540 And these car companies and the government, they weren't doing that, and that's why Tesla continues to dominate.

00:07:21.180 Very basic.

00:07:22.140 Go back to marketing.

00:07:23.360 Make a good product.

00:07:24.360 People will come in and buy it.

00:07:25.560 And by the way, it's also a – like I remember one time I'm talking to a friend, Tom, Jim Scott Bell.

00:07:30.940 And I'm writing this fiction book, and it had such a massive mission messaging in the fiction book.

00:07:36.700 He says, remember, if the message you want to put in the fiction book is more – is bigger than the entertainment aspect of the book, you won't sell.

00:07:46.760 He said, if the entertainment is 95 percent and messaging is 5 percent, then you'll sell.

00:07:52.520 These guys tried to do – EV is 95 percent.

00:07:55.640 The design is 5 percent.

00:07:56.860 It looks ugly.

00:07:57.940 Guess what?

00:07:58.400 You're going to go buy it because you're a responsible person.

00:08:00.940 Rob, can you pull up a poll?

00:08:02.320 I'm actually curious with the audience.

00:08:04.100 What percentage of the audience has an EV versus a gas and input both because some people have both, right?

00:08:11.280 My wife's got gas. 1.00

00:08:12.360 I drive an EV.

00:08:13.600 Just run a poll on that if you could just to see what they're saying.

00:08:17.140 Brandon, what are your thoughts on this story?

00:08:19.020 Yeah, I really hate waste of potential more than anything.

00:08:22.900 And the amount of money that's been poured into the EV initiative, it's so sad because, like,

00:08:27.880 we talk about all the time about the things that actually would benefit from government subsidies like, you know,

00:08:31.960 like a homebuilders initiative or an initiative to build nuclear reactors to give us more power for the country.

00:08:37.820 But we've spent, like, probably hundreds of billions of dollars over the last 10 years into trying to pressure or incentivize companies into building EVs.

00:08:45.520 And, you know, I sent Rob a chart that shows the amount of material that is required to build an EV versus a gas-powered car.

00:08:53.460 And, like, does this look like a good return on investment, especially when the output of energy is not higher?

00:08:58.120 So I almost am forced to wonder since—

00:09:00.920 But you're showing this.

00:09:01.840 The average person wants to know.

00:09:02.880 You and I know what this is.

00:09:03.720 Can you explain this?

00:09:04.500 So the green circles are the amount of materials, like metals and whatnot, that go into the inputs of a car.

00:09:10.760 The black circles are gas-powered cars.

00:09:13.060 So the—

00:09:13.620 You said regular car.

00:09:14.900 No, that's greenest EV cars, right?

00:09:16.640 Yes, correct.

00:09:17.060 So you need each one of those to build an EV car.

00:09:20.300 Yes.

00:09:20.920 And why is that so complex?

00:09:23.360 Why is the EV more complex?

00:09:24.500 Yeah, it's just, you know, it's not something that I think would be created if the market wasn't being forced to create it.

00:09:32.340 That's the point, is that the government's putting a lot of pressure on companies to build it.

00:09:35.300 But it's not something that would be really profitable or a good return on investment, I think, to build if they weren't getting pressure to do it.

00:09:42.440 You know, we could debate that.

00:09:44.080 But I almost wonder, since, like, energy matches, like, the population growth, I almost wonder if the government wants to do this to, like, maybe slow population growth.

00:09:54.800 Because, you know, the more energy you have in the country that's free and accessible, the faster the population grows.

00:09:59.820 So it creates a lot of weird questions why they're saying that we need this to save the world, why they're saying we're running out of oil when we've established it.

00:10:06.440 We're probably not.

00:10:07.460 Let me ask you a question.

00:10:08.080 All these different minerals that we need, right?

00:10:10.380 Yep.

00:10:10.940 Does the U.S. have access to all of them internally, or do we need to go elsewhere to get these?

00:10:14.820 I know the answer to the question.

00:10:15.940 I'm asking you for a reason.

00:10:17.040 A lot of them, no.

00:10:17.980 We don't have abundant amounts of it.

00:10:19.420 And a lot of them, you know, they're in places like China.

00:10:21.360 They're in South America. 0.65

00:10:22.380 So, yeah, no, it's not readily accessible at all.

00:10:23.720 There's also a place in Africa, right?

00:10:24.800 There's also a spot in Africa that has a, what is it called?

00:10:28.520 Multiple places.

00:10:29.020 Yeah, multiple places.

00:10:29.380 But there's one main place in Africa.

00:10:32.280 So this makes us reliant on other people.

00:10:35.340 But if we want to make gas, that's it, gas cars, can we make that not reliant on anybody else?

00:10:42.400 More so than the EVs because, you know, like, it's just a matter of, like, sheer volume of precious metals and natural resources.

00:10:49.300 And, you know, like, quick side note.

00:10:51.540 I do have a tough time, like, taking the whole EV thing seriously when something like the Invention Secrecy Act is in place.

00:10:57.260 Like, we have no idea what the hell is in there, but there's 6,000 patents of things that could possibly be better than electric and gas.

00:11:03.140 So that's another angle to take with us.

00:11:05.220 By the way, you look like you want to say something.

00:11:06.540 I'll come to you in a second.

00:11:07.440 So watch this here.

00:11:08.760 What type of vehicle do you own?

00:11:10.000 Gas, EV both?

00:11:11.060 Gas, 89%.

00:11:13.260 EV, 4%.

00:11:15.340 Both, 7%.

00:11:17.140 So let's just say 89 to 11, okay, meaning you own at least an EV in your car.

00:11:24.340 That's a, you know, that's a big ratio still in America where cars are at.

00:11:29.560 And that's a 3,400-volt sample.

00:11:32.740 Do you have any final thoughts on this story before we get to the next one, Pomp? 0.58

00:11:35.800 I just think that the legacy car makers, they're getting their butts kicked by Elon Musk.

00:11:41.600 And what it really highlights is you have companies that are being managed by corporate executives, not by entrepreneurs.

00:11:48.100 And so one area where we do see immense amount of innovation, which people in America don't like to acknowledge, is China.

00:11:54.600 I don't know if you've seen any of these videos of these Chinese electric vehicles.

00:11:57.700 I mean, these things are, you know, parallel parking by themselves.

00:12:00.740 They've got all kinds of cool, you know, gadgets, et cetera, in there.

00:12:03.540 And so it begs the question, I think, is it an incentive thing as to American companies don't want to innovate?

00:12:07.780 Is there some sort of, we don't have the skilled, you know, engineers, et cetera, to go do this?

00:12:13.040 Is there a capital component?

00:12:14.180 There's something going on as to why majority of the American car companies are not innovating at the same rate that the startup of Tesla or these Chinese car companies are doing.

00:12:23.760 And so I think that if we could answer that question, that then could help change this market.

00:12:28.480 And maybe you would actually have people want to go buy these, not because they're EVs, but because they're just better cars.

00:12:32.420 And, by the way, it's funny you're saying that.

00:12:34.880 Wall Street Journal just did a story on that a couple days ago.

00:12:37.800 Can U.S. automakers compete with Chinese EVs while focused on gas guzzlers?

00:12:45.160 And this goes back to Tom talking about the $2,500, $7,500 tax credit that they had in the past.

00:12:50.820 Tom, where are you at with this, with what Pom said?

00:12:53.100 Can U.S. automakers compete with Chinese EVs?

00:12:56.720 Yeah, I think there's three points.

00:12:59.020 There's the point of why can't the U.S. automakers, whatever they make, make a cool next-gen car?

00:13:04.660 Why can't they get there?

00:13:06.100 And if it's electric because they got a mandate from California, that's part of it, but they can't blame that whole thing.

00:13:15.000 That's why I say 50 percent of it.

00:13:16.920 The other 50 percent is you decided.

00:13:18.980 You decided to go all in.

00:13:20.920 So, A, make a cool car.

00:13:23.120 B, the green lobby really messed with decision-making.

00:13:26.900 It says, and C, now we find out that hybrid's actually a better deal for the consumer all the way around.

00:13:32.160 But let's go back to point A.

00:13:34.020 It's like, where is the leadership in the automakers that said, screw the EV mandate?

00:13:38.960 All of our data shows that people really like hybrids and it costs them less.

00:13:43.040 Let's make the coolest effing hybrid ever seen to mankind. 1.00

00:13:47.100 And let's make it really hip.

00:13:49.360 No, let's just take our existing cars because they mandated and let's make them all electric.

00:13:53.300 I thought Fisker was pretty cool.

00:13:54.520 So, I thought the Fisker car when it first came out.

00:13:57.640 Do you know which one?

00:13:58.080 Was it Karma?

00:13:58.780 Was it –

00:13:59.460 In New York, if you get on Uber, you want some free alpha for your viewers?

00:14:04.960 In the Uber app, there's actually an electric option.

00:14:07.700 And what almost always happens is you get a Tesla or a Fisker and it's cheaper.

00:14:11.800 Now, in New York, there's a lot of density.

00:14:13.320 So, it's about the same time waiting.

00:14:15.480 In other cities, not so much.

00:14:17.000 But those Fisker cars, it's like – I don't know how many are in America.

00:14:20.180 But I think at least half of them are Uber drivers in New York City.

00:14:23.500 Listen, I love that you had a – did you have a Fisker or –

00:14:25.960 Yep, I had a Fisker Ocean, the crossover.

00:14:29.480 Is that the one you had?

00:14:30.680 Yes, I did.

00:14:31.700 And what happened to it, Tom?

00:14:32.640 They got the solar panels, right?

00:14:33.740 They went bankrupt and I gave it back to Fisker.

00:14:36.660 Did something happen to the car, though?

00:14:39.120 Yeah, it got hit.

00:14:41.200 It took a shot, but it wasn't too bad.

00:14:44.920 But by the way, I can show you the pictures of it, but it wasn't that bad.

00:14:49.160 But since they're bankrupt, they couldn't provide parts.

00:14:53.900 They couldn't provide parts because they went bankrupt.

00:14:56.300 Yep.

00:14:56.740 And Liberty Mutual said, we can't do this.

00:14:59.580 So, it's done, done.

00:15:00.500 So, it went back to Fisker.

00:15:01.700 So, what do you do?

00:15:02.420 What do you do when it's done like that?

00:15:03.720 I mean, what do you do with the car?

00:15:04.920 Is it kind of like the old DeLorean?

00:15:06.680 Yeah, I got a check from Fisker, and Fisker took the car back.

00:15:10.020 Got it.

00:15:10.580 Interesting.

00:15:11.020 At least that's what happened.

00:15:11.820 Every time I'm at this campus, and I'm in my conference room,

00:15:14.940 and I look to my left, and I see 15 people walk into the other building,

00:15:17.500 and they're getting a tour.

00:15:18.620 That means we've hired 15 new people, okay?

00:15:20.820 And last week, we had 10 new hires that were here.

00:15:23.560 We had 45 job openings.

00:15:24.880 Right now, we have 35 job openings.

00:15:26.680 We are hiring.

00:15:27.640 If you're somebody highly qualified, you're educated, you're hungry,

00:15:32.620 you want to be part of something that you want to go on a run for 20 years,

00:15:35.180 because a lot of people, if you just watch this, you think it's a podcast.

00:15:37.700 And by the way, you may have a son, a daughter, a friend,

00:15:40.000 somebody that's fully, fully qualified that wants to be part of something

00:15:43.880 and bring their talent to us.

00:15:44.980 Not an easy place to work.

00:15:46.620 You know, we work very, very hard at a place like this.

00:15:50.080 But if you think this is just a podcast,

00:15:51.580 I want you to watch this clip to give you a little bit of a glimpse,

00:15:53.980 and then I'll give you a link to go apply for the 35 job openings

00:15:57.580 that we have right now.

00:15:58.280 Go ahead, Rob.

00:15:58.700 Many times when people think about Valuetainment,

00:16:01.280 all they think about is a podcast, but it's a lot more than that.

00:16:04.120 It's nine companies working together on an 11-acre campus.

00:16:07.960 If I was to give you a virtual tour here,

00:16:09.780 you'll see the HR department hiring, talent acquisition.

00:16:12.940 We have full-stack developers that are working on Manac and Hiremetrics.

00:16:16.220 We have a full-fledged events team that puts together events

00:16:18.900 with thousands of people.

00:16:20.240 We have a merch department designing the latest product.

00:16:22.960 We just launched EFLB Shoes, made in Italy.

00:16:25.340 We have a marketing department, and if you go to the complete opposite side

00:16:28.720 of the building, 50, 60 people making calls,

00:16:31.180 working for Bed David Consulting, sales, setters.

00:16:34.000 And then on the complete opposite side of the campus,

00:16:35.940 there's a full-on production company with editors, shooters,

00:16:38.940 creating content, doing podcasts.

00:16:40.780 Then you can drive down a couple miles and go to our private boardroom,

00:16:43.860 Cigar Lounge, with members only.

00:16:45.580 Regardless of what it is, working at Valuetainment,

00:16:48.140 every day is a surprise.

00:16:49.720 You could be walking into work, and right next to you is a governor,

00:16:53.320 is a billionaire, is an athlete.

00:16:54.520 We are hiring aggressively, but Valuetainment isn't for everybody.

00:16:58.200 For the right person, this could be the last company you ever work for.

00:17:03.100 So if you're watching this and you want to learn more,

00:17:05.560 go to vt.com forward slash careers and apply now.

00:17:11.160 There you go.

00:17:12.040 Go to vt.com forward slash careers and apply now.

00:17:15.160 Rob, if we can put the link below as well, that will be wonderful.

00:17:19.220 Okay.

00:17:19.580 Can I say something about the people I met here?

00:17:20.920 Please, go for it.

00:17:21.960 Excellent.

00:17:22.400 A plus.

00:17:22.820 Every single person, high energy, smart, and I ask every place I go,

00:17:27.300 I ask them, what's it like working here?

00:17:29.000 What's the best part?

00:17:29.600 What's the worst part?

00:17:30.620 The woman that I was just talking to, you know what she told me? 0.85

00:17:32.820 She said, it's great to have a leader who's pushing forward.

00:17:35.460 There's a movement.

00:17:36.060 You feel like you're contributing, but it's fun as well.

00:17:39.120 It's very rare where you can work really hard and have fun.

00:17:41.400 I love that.

00:17:42.160 Yeah.

00:17:42.660 Well, I appreciate you for saying that.

00:17:44.060 Yeah.

00:17:44.440 Whoever said that, can we get that?

00:17:45.460 I might apply.

00:17:46.060 I might apply.

00:17:46.500 She was a good sales pitch. 0.98

00:17:50.560 All right.

00:17:51.340 Bring your talents to just north of South Beach.

00:17:54.580 If you enjoyed this video, you want to watch more videos like this, click here.

00:17:57.500 And if you want to watch the entire podcast, click here.

00:18:00.280 Or if you want to watch more videos like this, click here.

00:18:03.960 Bye.

00:18:05.060 Bye.

00:18:05.340 Bye.

00:18:05.480 Bye.

00:18:06.040 Bye.

00:18:06.300 Bye.

00:18:06.420 Bye-bye.

Valuetainment - December 17, 2025

＂Musk Is Kicking Their Butts＂ - Ford’s EV Gamble BACKFIRES In $19B WAKE-UP CALL

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