Elon Musk Congratulates Ford CEO Jim Farley On 2023 Sales

January 5, 2024 9:26 am

2023 Ford F-150 Lightning Pro - Exterior 001 - Front Three Quarters

Though Ford and Tesla are heated rivals in the world of all-electric automobiles, the CEOs of those respective companies – Elon Musk and Jim Farley – have long been quick to congratulate and even publicly praise (or criticize) each other for their successes and failures. Over the past couple of years, Musk has said that the Ford F-150 Lightning is too expensive (a sentiment shared by Farley) but praised the automaker’s EV strategy, while Farley previously poked fun at Tesla’s Autopilot feature but also credited the company for making EVs viable. Now, shortly after Ford released its Q4 and 2023 sales results, Elon Musk was quick to congratulate Ford for its success in that regard.

Congrats

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 5, 2024

The response came from Farley’s post on X outlining Ford’s successes over the past quarter and year, a list that includes claiming the titles of best-selling truck, overall vehicle, hybrid truck, full-size hybrid truck, EV truck, and EV van, as well as finishing the year as the second best-selling EV automaker in the U.S., behind only Tesla. Ford also set a new personal record for EV sales, as Ford Authority reported yesterday.

Sales Numbers - Ford EVs - CY 2023 - USA

MODEL	YTD 23 / YTD 22	YTD 23	YTD 22
FORD MUSTANG MACH-E	+3.33%	40,771	39,458
FORD F-150 LIGHTNING	+54.74%	24,165	15,617
FORD E-TRANSIT	+18.03%	7,672	6,500
TOTAL	+17.92%	72,608	61,575

Of course, it’s worth noting that the gap between Ford and Tesla in terms of sales remains quite vast, with The Blue Oval moving 72,608 EVs in the U.S. in 2023, which is 18 percent more than 2022. That list consists of the Ford Mustang Mach-E with 40,771 sales, the F-150 Lightning at 24,165 units, and the Ford E-Transit at 7,672 units. Tesla, on the other hand, doesn’t break down sales by region, so it’s difficult to compare the two directly, but reported that it delivered 1.8 million EVs across the globe last year – a two percent year-over-year decrease – which breaks down to 1,739,707 units of the Model 3 and Y together, as well as 68,874 “other models,” a list that includes the Model S, X, and Cybertruck.

We’ll have more on everything Ford’s competition is up to soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for 24/7 Ford news coverage.

By Brett Foote

Brett's lost track of all the Fords he's owned over the years and how much he's spent modifying them, but his current money pits include an S550 Mustang and 13th gen F-150.