Rivian CEO Echoes Jim Farley’s Comments About Chinese EVs

After spending some time in China driving electric vehicles from a few domestic manufacturers in that country, Ford CEO Jim Farley quickly realized that such models have advanced to the point where they’re far ahead of the competition. Since then, Farley has spoken about Chinese EVs on several occasions, praising their technology and cost competitiveness, as well as admitting that The Blue Oval has some catching up to do. Turns out, one of his peers – Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe – feels exactly the same way.

“I think everyone should be planning for that and designing [their] technology stack around that,” Scaringe told InsideEVs in a recent interview when asked about Chinese EVs, specifically. However, he added that fixating on costs isn’t the right thing to do here. “What’s alarming, if you’re looking at the whole industry, is that the technology is much better. If I was an existing manufacturer, I’d get less hung up on the cost and more focused on ‘the cars are actually better.’”

Aside from these comments revolving around cost, Scaringe isn’t alone in feeling like Chinese EVs are far more advanced than those made by Rivian and other automakers outside of that country. In fact, Farley sees those models as Ford’s chief competition at the moment, even though none are sold in the U.S. right now. Aside from cost, he pointed out that Chinese EVs are “far superior in vehicle technology,” and better quality, to boot.

Farley sees Chinese EVs as such a threat to Ford’s business, in fact, that he believes The Blue Oval may not even survive if it can’t figure out a way to catch up in those areas. “We are in a global competition with China and it’s not just EVs and if we lose this we do not have a future at Ford,” the executive stated earlier this year.