Henry Ford did not invent the assembly line, but he certainly jump-started a manufacturing revolution by using it to build his cars. To create a new generation of cheap electric vehicles, Ford — the company, not the man — is throwing out this influential innovation.

"This is not a standard factory upgrade," TechCrunch said of Ford's $2 billion plan to "transform" its plant at Louisville to build a new $30,000 midsize electric pickup truck. Instead of a "single conveyor line," the revamped process will use a "three-branched assembly tree." The new EV will be "produced 15% faster" than traditional vehicles, said the company. 

What did the commentators say?
Ford's "complete rethinking" of its longstanding processes is needed to "overcome China's low-cost labor," said Axios. The "dramatically faster and cheaper" process will require 20% fewer parts than the company's traditional products. But it will also require fewer workers. Six-hundred employees of the Louisville plant are being offered buyouts.

"The timing couldn't have been worse" for Ford's decision to double down on EVs, said Andrew J. Hawkins at The Verge. Federal tax credits on EVs expire in September, and President Donald Trump's trade war is "tilting the balance in favor of China's EVs." 

Ford already loses $5 billion a year on electric vehicles, and Ford CEO Jim Farley has spoken openly about China's "humbling" lead in the sector. That makes Ford's new effort to build a profitable EV the "biggest challenge of Farley's career," one that could decide whether the company thrives or ends up "just a footnote" in the EV industry.

Ford's announcement is a "proverbial moonshot and then some," said Liam Denning at Bloomberg. Farley now has to deliver, or else. He is "risking a lot for both his company and himself."

What next?
Farley did sound a note of caution in announcing the new EV truck, said The New York Times. There are so many new things being attempted in the manufacturing process that "I can't tell you with 100% certainty that it will all go just right," he said. 

The challenge is steep. Chinese companies like BYD produce EVs at a "fraction of European and American costs," said the Times. But the progress in lowering costs and production time puts the company "within spitting distance of the Chinese," said auto consultant Sandy Munro.

President Donald Trump's tariffs are causing economic stress for countries around the world, but Switzerland has become an unlikely target of some of the White House's import taxes. The wealthy Alpine nation has been hit with one of the Trump administration's highest tariff percentages. And this has led to people across Switzerland, a country that typically stays out of global conflicts, wondering why the nation is in Trump's crosshairs and what it means for the Swiss economy.

Some of the world's highest tariffs
The Trump administration has imposed a 39% tariff on Swiss exports, the sixth-highest among any country. The high tax came as a "surprise" to the European country given that a "trade agreement had seemingly been imminent," said CNBC. But Trump has singled out nations like Switzerland he says "treat Americans 'unfairly' by exporting more goods to the United States than they buy from it."

Switzerland does have a high trade deficit with the U.S. — about $48 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But rather than this being a case of Switzerland treating the U.S. "unfairly," the "reality may be more straightforward: Trump was keen to make big deals, and Switzerland just isn't that big," said BBC News. 

Fear of being 'annihilated'
The tariffs have caused concerns among the Swiss people, especially among business owners who dominate Switzerland's industries. The "worst-case scenario has become a reality," Swissmem, a group representing the Swiss engineering and tech industries, said to The New York Times in a statement. If this "exorbitant customs burden is maintained," Switzerland's "export business to the USA will be effectively annihilated."

Among the Swiss, the "surprise wasn't that the U.S. took action" but rather the amount of the tariff, said the Financial Times. Some are even blaming Switzerland for the situation. Switzerland has a "reputation for delivering on its commitments. But that can be a weakness in a world that rewards drama and ambition," Hans-Peter Portmann, a Swiss banking executive and member of the country's parliament, said to the Financial Times. "That's a problem when you are up against Trump."

Migrants attempt to board a smuggler's boat off the beach of Gravelines in northern France. Over 27,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel in small boats this year, up from 18,342 in the same period last year. 
Sameer Al-Doumy / Getty Images

The first week of August "hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning," wrote Natalie Babbitt in "Tuck Everlasting." Now into August's second week, we are officially zooming toward the fall season, which means you only have a few weeks left to enjoy a lazy day of free AC at the multiplex before the ride is over.

'It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley'
Singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley is beloved for only having released one record during his lifetime, although that record, "Grace," is widely considered a perfect album. A new documentary from Amy Berg focuses on Buckley's most intimate relationships, "finally" filling out the "missing details of his life," said Film Independent. (now in theaters)

'Weapons'
Zach Cregger made a splash with his first feature, "Barbarian," in 2022, a horror flick about the dangers of booking an Airbnb as a single woman. Cregger's much-anticipated second project (pictured above) is even more ambitious, using a "disappearing elementary school class as a jumping off point for an interconnected horror epic inspired by 'Magnolia,'" Paul Thomas Anderson's 1999 movie. (now in theaters)

'Honey Don't!'
This is the second movie in a proposed trilogy from director Ethan Coen. The first was 2024's under-the-radar "Drive-Away Dolls." Both flicks star Margaret Qualley as a queer heroine, and this one positions her as Honey O'Donoghue, a "private detective in Bakersfield who has the deep voice and steady gaze of a hard-boiled femme fatale from the 1950s," said Owen Gleiberman at Variety. (in theaters Aug. 22)