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.
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.
"We are in global competition with China, and it's not just EVs. And if we lose this, we do not have a future Ford," said Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford.
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.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.
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 ?
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.
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.)
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.
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.
Good move.