Ford CEO Jim Farley says that Ford has a problem. Several problems, in fact. The Ford Motor Company isn't alone in this given automakers' multiple challenges today: crippling supply chain shortages, especially of semiconductors, and a costly switch to electrification, one with uncertain profitability, loom large in 2023. Everyone is complaining about high costs and low margins. Yet cars are less and less affordable for the average American. Why? 

One reason is the reluctance of American consumers to embrace simpler machines. Chrysler had a brilliant idea decades ago called the China Concept Vehicle, an injection-molded car assembled like a giant plastic model kit. It could have revolutionized the industry, but the automotive space is dominated by government regulation and marketing conservatism, which weigh heavily on engineering. Jim Anderton comments. 

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