Maybe too little too late, but I do appreciate his candor in telling the truth. We are also talking Ford, unlike GM, which successfully criminally conspired to destroy public transit in this country. That was why I was against the bailout for that wicked company; they owe the taxpayers so much more than the billions they received.

It appears from his perspective he's recognizing that it's largely a lack of space issue - and as we're starting to see - even electric vehicles cannot solve this problem.

Outside of a handful of cities in the U.S., cars are still a necessity. I don't see that changing anytime soon. While there is a trend towards increased urban density, it is negated by an increase in the overall population. Furthermore, the gains in urban population pretty closely follow demographic trends towards 20-somethings and empty nesters in the core city. The middle-class family demographic still wants a detached single family house. That hasn't changed much from what it was in the 1950s and is actually becoming increasingly accessible to a broader range of people. Is there an emerging urban transportation market? Yes! But the suburban car-dependent market isn't going away anytime soon. Ford may be wise to diversify, but the real money is still in cars.

I hope they begin making rocket-packs. 

handful of cities? try 27 of the 51 largest metros in the country, where the urban core is adding population faster than their suburbs.  There's also a major demographic shift going on - average household size in the US has shrunk from 3.5 to 2.5 in the past couple decades - population gains are only happening due to immigration.  And while total urban youth population is declining, the total number of households with children who live in urban cores is actually increasing.  There might still be a handful of US metros bucking this trend - but there's already major shift away from auto-dependency underway.  Yes - people will still need new cars, but the total number of cars on the roads has essentially flat-lined, and what people want out of their cars has changed - auto companies are going to have to diversify if they want to grow.

Turning his back on expanding Chinese and Indian markets? How un-American.

Toaster, my point was that in only a handful of cities can you get by completely without a car. That ain't changing any time soon.

But to your point, while urban centers may be growing faster than the suburbs as a whole in a number of metropolitan regions, it's not an apples-to-apples comparison because of the differing geographical sizes, i.e. you can't compare on a percentage basis an area that is 20 sq miles versus one that is 300 sq miles; it's the overall increase/decrease in population that matters.

From the Minneapolis-St. Paul article:

Minority and immigrant students have replaced tens of thousands of white students who’ve aged out of suburban schools over roughly the past decade. Minneapolis schools are becoming increasingly white, grade by grade, with the youngest children reaching 50-50 parity.

Young immigrant parents, having started oftentimes in grim inner-city surroundings, are delighted to find themselves in spots like Apple Valley.

If your point that the U.S. population has increased only due to immigration, not birth rate, from that argument it stands to reason that the suburbs have the most to gain in that they are absorbing most of the immigrant population. Look, from a planning standpoint or even a development standpoint, I understand the sexiness of a relative handful of gentrifying suburbanites rediscovering the core city. However, from my observation (and experience!), most 20-somethings move to the core city for its attractions and amenities, only to find it increasingly challenging as they age (housing stock is too small, inadequate or expensive; public schools suck/private schools too expensive; crime; distance from family) - it's not solely a transportation issue, far from.

I understand your politics, but at the same time, you are cherry picking data that supports your ideology. I'm all in favor of more walkable, bikable, transit-rich communities whether in the core city or the suburbs, but you fail to realistically acknowledge that the car is going to be around for a long, long time.