Ford CEO Jim Farley recently gave an interview to Car and Driver about Ford and the future of electric vehicles.
Farley took the helm of the American “Big Three” automaker in 2020 and is regarded by car enthusiasts as a gearhead with family ties to the Ford brand.
Last November, Farley candidly recalled Ford’s acquisition and teardown of a Chinese electric car (known as a “product teardown” or “teardown”).
Farley described feeling “humbled” during the teardown of an electric car, and in June 2024 he shared a self-written article about car electrification on social platform
Farley fondly calls the revs of a gasoline engine the “soundtrack” of his life, adding: “As a lifelong gasoline fan, I was as surprised as anyone when I fell in love with electric cars.”
Immediately thereafter, he said that neither “government policy” nor “political beliefs” prompted his “late-career love affair” with electric vehicles, citing reasons that any EV owner can relate to.
“That’s because I drive one – my Ford F-150 Lightning Platinum. It’s amazingly quiet and smooth,” Farley said, praising his truck’s “effortless acceleration.”
Farley is clearly motivated by a genuine love of the sport and pragmatism, as evidenced by his extensive interview with Car and Driver. The outlet asked Farley about the F-150 Lightning rollout and what Ford could do differently.
“I would totally do it differently. I mean, look, we don’t know what we don’t know,” the CEO said. Eventually, Ford leadership came to a conclusion.
“I think it didn’t take long for us to discover that our bias against the internal combustion engine was so great that we didn’t design [electric] “The car was right,” Farley said, directing Car and Driver to ask him when the iconic automaker realized it was “not doing it right with electric cars.”
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Farley targeted Tesla when he and others at Ford fully recognized the problem: By default, the engineering bias against the internal combustion engine was deeply ingrained.
“I was completely stunned… we had no idea what was going on [Tesla engineers’ ] mind. But now we understand. They are not biased. We’re biased,” Farley said.
Ultimately, Farley believes electrification will excite Ford’s founder and namesake for the first time in a century.
“I’ve always said that I think Henry Ford would have been very bored over the last 100 years at Ford,” he began.
“But if he came back to the company now, he would be up all night…he would be working on the next EREV [extended range EV] Before our team. Because I think as a founder, he’s a tinkerer. He loved that moment of transformation. We are in the middle of it now. “
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