Last October, Ford CEO Jim Farley made waves when the executive revealed that he had been spending quite a lot of time driving around in the Xiaomi SU7, a China-based EV. Farley loved that particular vehicle so much, in fact, that he admitted that he had been “driving it for six months now and I don’t want to give it up” at that time. All of this came about when Farley visited China some time ago, but as it turns out, FoMoCo has more Chinese EVs in its fleet than just that SU7.
“I went to China last year and we picked – I asked my management team to pick the five best Chinese electric vehicles, and then we put them on a plane and flew them to Chicago and drove them to Dearborn and we’ve been driving them ever since,” Farley stated during a recent appearance on the the Spike’s Car Radio podcast.
It’s unclear which five Chinese EVs Ford has in its U.S. testing fleet, but Ford Authority spotted the automaker benchmarking a Zeekr 001 back in August 2023. That model offers an optional 140 kWh battery pack and a whopping 641 miles of range – though that number is calculated on China’s generous CLTC cycle, which is even less accurate in the real-world than Europe’s also-optimistic WLTP cycle. Regardless, the Zeekr 001 can also be spec’d with smaller 86 kWh and 100 kWh battery packs that deliver 339 and 460 miles of range, respectively.
Farley has spoken glowingly about Chinese EVs, in general, on multiple occasions, and they’re also precisely what inspired him to create a skunkworks team within Ford to develop a low-cost EV platform of its own. It’s also why Ford has largely given up on becoming a major player in China’s domestic automotive market, as the competition is seemingly far ahead at the moment, making things difficult for foreign automakers like Ford.
Comments
Nice looking Chinese sedan…noooo Jim, don’t get any ideas about turning the next Mustang into a four sedan. How about creating a new model, and calling it something else. I’m sure if looks good, not like those horrid SUV’s everyone’s been making, it might sell well. What do ya think?
Here’s an estimate of the following resources that the US and China each control. Does this help some of you see why EVs and “green tech” using rare earth resources favor China so much over the US? And why continuing down this “EV or nothing” road is foolish for the US and “US companies”?
Resource Unit US China
Oil Billion barrels 45 25
Natural Gas Trillion cubic meters 14.3 6.57
Coal Billion metric tons 250 139
Uranium Thousand metric tons 309 157
Gold Metric tons 8,133 2,279
Rare Earths Million metric tons 2 44
Also, while the US has 2 million metric tons of rare earth reserves (again, vs China’s 44), China controls over 90% of global processing, affecting supply chain dynamics.
Hey Jimmy you big fat turd. I hope the led family and the board DUMP you sooner than later. You and Lawler have run our beautiful CAR company for several years…yeah, run it right into the ground. Henry is rolling over in his grave. You have such a disconnected view from what the American public wants and you refuse to relate. You gave up our sedan market share as profits per vehicle weren’t high enough..well, funny, gm, Toyota, Honda, Kia, etc gladly ate your piece of the pie. The vehicle lineup you have now created is borrrrrrring..nobody wants the ugly boring models you’ve insisted on with your tunnel vision. NOBODY WANTS EVs you idiotic turd… you have cost us 10 billion in losses in the last two years with your stupid EV endeavor. When is enough enough? Continue with combustion engine vehicles and make several new models, including sedans and watch what happens. The road you’re on and the path you insist on taking currently will bankrupt the company you FOOL!!!!!
Wow….you seem to be an expert on “Turds”. (Fat, Idiotic, etc..)
But hey, I’m not going to judge your hobby.
How many variations are there?
By the way, what’s in your driveway?
Some people cant handle the truth.
🏆 Award for the best comment ever. 🏆
You have to lead, follow, or get out of the way. Apparently you suggest Ford not lead nor follow, but try to breed a faster horse.
Ford currently has no Model T equivalent to sell today, but I think Farley has seen the light. Either Ford relinquishes the market to those with vision for the future and withers away as a niche maker of ICE pickups, or it gets rid of you naysayers and Luddites and actually competes. Not even Trump and his oil buddies can stop EVs.
Note that Mach Es outsell Mustangs with “real” engines. As for me, I sure don’t want another Ford with a transmission.
If you want to be in business selling personal vehicles, you have to be selling EVs, do survive long term, because that is all there will be.
You don’t realize your mindset is the horse and carriage mindset from 1920. Horse and carriage makers would not change, so they all went out of business.
I have never owned an EV, and have only test drove three. EVs are WAY better than oil autos. And, gasoline/ diesel will be too expensive for most to afford.
Some people will be WAY underwater w their auto. They won’t be able to afford gasoline/ diesel fuel, and they can’t afford to sell their oil auto, so they will be stuck. Don’t be that person.
Test drove 3…well that certainly makes you an expert. What you ignore are three factors that are inconvenient for you:
1. There is an inadequate and shaky infrastructure
2. Only good for relatively short hops+range anxiety
3. Expensive as all get out, especially for an evolving technology
So, in what way are they “better than oil autos”?
If Jim had any brains, which so far can’t be proved by his decisions at Ford , He will have done what the Chinese have done to American business for decades, and have those vehicles disassembled, reverse engineer the good parts, and build Cars Ford can sell. Ford should have already had ALL THEIR models as available HYBRIDS but Jim’s insistence on full EVs and mega profits from each sale, instead of more sales at a moderate profit, has lost market share big time.
Time to listen to the public, and build what Americans need, not what your sycophants agree with you on.
Like those digital TV converter boxes for your boob tube, the time for hybrids will be gone in a few years when current designs reach market. Better batteries and chargers everywhere will make them a footnote in auto history. They are the worst of both worlds.
What do you know in leading a Company ? Stelantis fired their CEO ! What’s your date of Departure ? We are tired of looking your Cookie Cutter Fords ! Donald J. Trump would have fired you on Day One !
China has done a much better job on EVs than the rest of the world. However they have a ton of excess stock and they want to sell that stock in the US. Therein lies part of the tariff problem.
China doesn’t need the whinny US market. They will do just fine without them.
Donald Trump has allowed EV hydrogen but the US will go back to internal combustion engine the most reliable.
Mfr have to be stopped from making their cars poorly for a quicker turnover,online software that needs updates giving dealers and mfrs unprecedented ways to take more money.