The leaders of Ford Motor Co. have been talking about vehicle affordability for at least a year — it was a topic Executive Chair Bill Ford and CEO Jim Farley addressed one year ago at the Detroit Auto Show — and now the two say Ford will make it top priority, they are developing a fundamentally new approach to lower car prices, and the company has upcoming news to announce about it.
“Affordability is a big issue,” Bill Ford told the media on the sidelines of this year’s Detroit Auto Show on Jan. 13. “It’s one we talk about a lot internally and we actually have a lot of plans to address that … some of which we haven’t announced yet, but will shortly because I do think that’s really important.”
So does President Donald Trump, who on Dec. 3 in the Oval Office with executives from the Detroit Three around him, proposed that carmakers start thinking about making tiny, inexpensive cars for the U.S. market that are similar to ones popular in Japan. Trump said it would offer Americans access to more affordable new cars.
Those tiny cars are a topic Trump is not letting go of, according Farley, who recounted an exchange between himself and the president during Trump’s tour of Ford’s Rouge Center in Dearborn on Jan. 13.
On Dec. 3, Trump announced his proposal to ease emissons standards put in place by former President Joe Biden. Then he dropped his tiny car suggestion as Farley, Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa and General Motors Orion Assembly Plant Manager John Urbanic stood by stone-faced.
In case you missed it: How the Ford F-150 could hold the key to diplomatic alliance with Japan
“If you go to Japan, where I just left, if you go to South Korea, Malaysia and other countries, they have a very small car, sort of like the Beetle used to be with Volkswagen,” Trump said. “They’re very small, they’re really cute. And I said, ‘How would that do in this country?’ Everyone seems to think good.”
Auto industry analysts said Trump was referring to Japanese “kei” cars, which are made by a variety of Japanese automakers primarily for sale in Asia. Kei cars are a special class of car. They are a boxy-shaped vehicle designed specifically for that market and limited to a maximum of 660-cubic-centimeter engine and 64 horsepower. They generally have a top speed of 87 mph.
And, boy are they tiny. The maximum length of a kei vehicle is 133.9 inches and 58.3 inches wide. To put that in perspective, the current Fiat 500e, made by Stellantis, is actually bigger coming in at 143.1 inches long and 74 inches wide.
As the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, previously reported, most industry experts said that U.S. car buyers have proven they do not want such a small vehicle, even if they were cheap. Case in point: Stellantis sold just 970 models of its Fiat 500e, which starts at about $32,000, for all of 2024. By comparison, Stellantis sold 587,725 Jeep vehicles in the United States in 2024 and 439,039 Ram pickups. A Ram starts at $40,275.
But Trump persists, saying on Dec. 3: “They really give people a chance to have a car, have a brand new car as opposed to a car that maybe isn’t so great. So new car companies, start thinking about that.”
In case you missed it: Trump administration officials tout auto changes at Detroit Auto Show
As Farley and Filosa nodded politely, the idea of kei cars pretty much hit the brakes beyond the doors of the Oval Office.
But Trump is still pushing the idea. He brought it up to Ford’s top executives during his Jan. 13 factory tour at Rouge Center — where Ford makes its full-sized F-150 pickup.
“The president today asked me, ‘Can you sell kei cars here in the U.S.?’ ” Farley told the media on the sidelines of the Detroit Auto Show the evening of Jan. 13. “I think that’s exciting. That’s fun to talk about the possibilities.”
A reporter quickly followed up, asking Farley how he replied to Trump’s question.
Farley paused and then said: “I worked at the Scion brand and brought that into the country and I loved that little car. But we’ll continue to look at the market. Affordability is a priority for us. But frankly a small minivan for six people in the U.S., I’m not sure that will be a high ticket.”
Farley worked at Toyota from 1990 until he joined Ford in 2007. At Toyota, he was responsible for the launch and management of its new Scion brand.
Affordability of new cars is on a lot of minds these days.
On Jan. 15 during a “fireside chat” on the second day of the Detroit Auto Show, U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno said: “I would love to see many more Honda Civics, which is a car that’s under $25,000.”
Honda advertises a Civic starting at under $25,000. Moreno, a Republican from Ohio whose state includes a large Honda auto plant, then posed a challenge to the industry to bring more small affordable cars to market.
“Honda does it. Toyota is close to doing it,” Moreno said. “Others can join.”
A couple of days later, high-level federal officials, including Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, visited the first public day of the 2026 Detroit Auto Show on Jan. 17 and talked about changes in the industry.
Greer said there have been “huge strides toward affordability” through regulation cuts and an increased focus on producing cars in America.
Duffy said the average age of a vehicle on American roads is 13, which is “way too old.”
“If we have more affordable cars and more people can put a new car in their driveway, those are safer cars,” Duffy said. “That’s what we want for American families and that’s why this affordable push is so critical.”
The Detroit automakers appear to agree. Stellantis’ Filosa said on Jan. 14 at the Detroit Auto Show that the automaker looks to bring smaller and cheaper models to market — including potential options under the $30,000.
“For sure under $40,000, right?” Filosa said. “We will investigate also under $30,000, and, obviously, every kind of vehicle is different, so pickups, SUV, passenger cars. But, yes, we want to go there as well.”
Filosa said the company will offer a combination of “value proposition with being competitive in the price offer” as well as tweaking the product lineup to provide more affordable pickups.
But back to Bill Ford, who told reporters on Jan. 13 that Ford’s plan is slightly different.
“You can play around with trims but there’s a more fundamental version of affordability … because you can only go so far with trims. We’ve done that plenty of times in the past,” Ford said. “We can do that right now. Look at the F-Series. We can flex all the way up from the entry level, all the way up to a very expensive level.”
The 2026 F-150 starts at $37,330, according to www.ford.com and has several trim options that soar all the way up to the F-150 Raptor, which starts at $79,005.
Bill Ford said the market and the customer ultimately dictate the trim mix a car company offers. That’s why Ford is looking at a different solution.
“I think here’s a more fundamental version: Can you engineer vehicles that are fundamentally a lower cost? So that you can pass that on to the customer,” Bill Ford said. “That’s what we’re working on.”
So stay tuned.
Staff reporters Liam Rappleye and Natalie Davies contributed to this report.
Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer for USA Today Co. who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.

source