The CEO of Ford admits to purchasing and daily driving the Chinese EV Xiaomi Speed Ultra 7. He imported for his personal use; and he doesn't want to give up it. Must be nice.
Ford's CEO says China's EV progress is 'the most humbling thing' he's ever seen
Jim Farley has been quite open about EVs - and he's been conducting hands-on market research. He's done podcasts on the topic.
I don't know why everyone grabs their pitchforks for this - they're trying to address competition to modernize their offerings.
Why would we buy his cars ?
He can afford the tariffs. Everyone else gets a F-150 recall machine ?
How can you simper for him and want to be taken seriously ?
Honestly, if I was a Ford shareholder, I would be dumping my shares as fast as possible - there's no coming back from an open admission of defeat like that. He flat out said they can't win, the barriers of entry are too high, and the key one (software like Xiaomi) doesn't even really exist yet.
As others point out, the western automakers did this to themselves. Hoo boy did China out capitalism. Ironic
I feel like the US is gonna be the cheap labor very shortly.
Russia style petrostate feels the most likely. And in a time where fossil fuels are going through their death spiral (if in a somewhat prolonged manner).
If you had even a tiny brain in your head you would see he's driving it to test out the competition. The article says he's made a lot of trips to China this year to look at their ev cars.
See. I see this as the ceo version of "market research". It could bring something better.
Tbh, maybe it's because I just watched 'Ford vs Ferrari', but imo I would want the higher ups to acknowledge they are fucking up and then change it.
I don't think it's market research though said research can look like this. The messaging doesn't seem to line up.
So you have an opinion based off an ad disguise as a movie you watched, you’re surely gonna love that new F1 movie for certain you love advertisement so much
The F150 is America’s best selling vehicle and has been for the last 40+ years.
Yes, but the dynamics of demand is rapidly changing. Look at the micromobility sector - there was nothing 5ish years ago, and now scooter and ebikes are everywhere.
the only thing keeping Chinese vehicles out are trade restrictions. Look at Europe: VW is in dire straights because they can't compete with Chinese EVs.
Unfortunately, we live in a post-truth society where the vast majority of people have traded the pursuit of truth for the comfort of confirmation bias.
And the last 6 months have shown us that the stock market is mostly just vibes and manipulation rather than being grounded in facts and reality.
Ford stock has always been a terrible investment. Its PE ratio is a single digit for good reason.
Why is it humbling? The US and EU actively hindered EV development when they weren’t ignoring it entirely. Put this man back in preschool so he can learn cause and effect, because this is nonsense. Or he’s lying for any number of reasons, which is my guess.
Who cares about some billionaire's opinion. I would assume he restructured his portfolio and wants to see some gains.
Fwiw a lot of late stage CEOs even of big companies are way less rich than you’d think. Jim Farleys net worth is 21 million dollars. Still very very rich, but not billionaire rich.
Just in case anyone needs to hear it, EVs are still cars. Perhaps an improvement, but not a solution.
I agree. And for those that need a vehicle because they live in the middle of fucking nowhere, EVs are a good middle ground.
I get why construction teams don't use them, since one bad charging connection overnight can bring the entire project to a grinding halt for the next day. Meanwhile if Joe forgot to gas up the backhoe before leaving last night it's only a minor delay while someone goes to do Joe's job.
For anyone and everyone else, EVs are generally viable and in many cases, a much better choice than the alternatives.
For anyone in a city, the fact that you feel you need a car, is the problem.
Construction/trades are actually a pretty good use case for the EV pickups. As you say, it is a hard stop if they’re not charged, but a short trip carrying tools and people to the job site and subsequent short trips to the supply house are usually easily within reach. It’s the backhoe with 8 hrs of runtime that’s difficult to replace, and wiring them to the grid is a bad idea because they’re inherently cable-seeking. (In seriousness, I think it’s an idea that can be explored but is largely impractical. What construction site has a 200kw grid connection, what size cables are you using that won’t be “adjusted” by the local tweakers, and how do you handle an accident.)
In response to the title, he better be driving the competitors vehicles often to understand what they are doing well.
I think this is a classic case of a company being unable to disrupt itself.
Ford makes internal combustion engines. Ford makes F-150s. Undoubtedly every executive, marketing guy, R&D engineer, and factory worker is focused on how many F-150s are being produced and sold. Anybody who shows up to a meeting suggesting they don't sell more F150 is booted out the door (metaphorically).
They probably also thought there's no way a Chinese mobile phone / tea kettle / Wi-Fi router manufacturer could ever kick their ass with a car. Yet here we are.
Around 1995 the f150 hit the pinnacle of its design. Such a wonderful truck. Basically runs forever. I have one. My university has a fleet of them.
I wish they'd make them again.
Doug Ford can go fuck himself!
What? Of course I read the headline. The point still stands!
That fucker should burn at a pyre with all the other lobbyists.
I have a lot of respect for him for this, telling everyone that your company makes a bad product and needs to do better is a bold move.
He "doesn't want give up it"?
Hey, out of curiosity, whats your opinion on NATO?
Good move.
Lol, wow. Not even Ford's CEO will drive a Ford anymore. The US is going to crash so hard
Entirely agree. It’s worth noting here that ford doesn’t make any
carssedans anymore. Crossovers and trucks only. Profit over product led them here.https://www.ford.com/cars/mustang/
Once you've met a few CEOs, you quickly realize that most of them literally don't use or even get close to their own product unless someone else is showing them.
Even if they were good I wouldn't get one for the annoying open door noise