As Ford Authority recently reported, United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain has been recognized as the 2024 MotorTrend Person of the Year – an award that Ford CEO Jim Farley previously won back in 2022. However, the union leader wasn’t the only automotive figurehead to make the cut on the latest version of MT‘s annual list of who’s who in the industry, as he was joined by a number of Blue Oval execs as well – a list that includes Chief Operating Officer (COO) Kumar Galhotra, who rocketed up to ninth in the rankings this year after coming in at number 46 out of 50 last year. As for Jim Farley, he also made the cut, albeit coming in just a tad lower than last year.
This year, Jim Farley ranked 12th out of 50 people that made this list, sliding down one spot compared to his result in 2023. MotorTrend pointed to the Blue Oval CEO’s willingness to shift gears last year amid falling demand for EVs, making moves that he deems necessary to capitalize on ever-changing market conditions as a main driving factor behind this ranking.
“Farley is a shrewd strategist who has shown expertise in predicting the path forward but who can also pivot quickly if circumstances warrant,” MotorTrend said of its selection. “He continues to pursue lower-cost and higher-tech next-generation EVs, which he sees as the future. But he was not shy about reducing a planned $12 billion in EV development, cutting EV production, and delaying construction of a second battery plant in Kentucky amid consumer demand that remains in favor of internal combustion engines. He also deserves kudos for leading the industry push to adopt the North American Charging Standard (NACS), a move virtually every other automaker followed.”
Farley indeed was the driving force behind the automaker’s abrupt decision to scale back billions in planned EV investments last fall, and instead focus on hybrids, which continue to grow in terms of popularity. In fact, Farley reiterated the company’s commitment to growing its hybrid sales significantly just last month as the company aims to capitalize on a shift in consumer demand.
We’ll have more on the 2024 MotorTrend Power List soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for ongoing Ford news coverage.
No Comments yet