A University of Michigan business professor has warned that Ford and General Motors face the prospect of shrinking into niche manufacturers if they lose market share in Canada, Mexico and other formerly strong export markets. The concern is not simply commercial; it reflects a deeper strategic squeeze in which product mix, consumer tastes and new competitors are remaking the global auto market.
The professor argued that if Ford and GM cede substantial ground outside the United States, their surviving global footprint will likely concentrate on large pickup trucks and full‑size sport‑utility vehicles. Those segments remain popular among many American buyers, but they have limited appeal across much of the world, where urbanisation, fuel costs, emissions rules and rising demand for compact electric vehicles favour smaller, more efficient models.
This juncture matters because it would force a reconstruction of where and what America’s legacy automakers build. A concentration on heavy domestic models would reshape supply chains, investment priorities and the location of manufacturing, potentially reversing decades of global expansion and integration with North American and Latin American production networks.
Broader structural shifts are already at play. Global rivals — from Chinese electric‑vehicle makers to European and Japanese groups — are intensifying their export efforts and moving quickly into price‑competitive and electrified segments that are growing fastest outside the US. At the same time, regulatory pressures, incentives for electrification and changing consumer preferences in markets such as Europe and parts of Asia favour smaller, battery‑powered models over large internal‑combustion pickups.
If Ford and GM's global sales narrow, the consequences would ripple beyond corporate balance sheets. Fewer model lines suited to international markets could lead to plant closures, job losses in export‑oriented regions, and political pressure at home to protect domestic manufacturing. It would also alter the competitive landscape, giving non‑US manufacturers more leverage in setting global standards for EV technology and software.