Which is a weird thing for him to say, considering Ford really doesn’t have small cars. The smallest in their whole lineup is the Maverick, Mustang EV, and Escape. They literally do not have a small car. They consider the Mustang a “sedan”, but, it starts at $40k. You can get a loaded Civic for $30K
Ford chief says Americans need to fall ‘back in love’ with smaller cars
It is time for the US to “get back in love” with smaller cars, according to the chief executive of Ford.
In a wide-ranging interview at the Aspen Ideas festival, Jim Farley said the auto industry needs to focus on smaller EVs and commercial vehicles. He acknowledged that American consumers are in “love with these monster vehicles” but said they need to “get back in love” with small cars.
“We have to start to get back in love with smaller vehicles. It’s super important for our society and for EV adoption,” Farley said. “We are just in love with these monster vehicles, and I love them, too, but it’s a major issue with weight.”
In case Jim missed it, EVs are much heavier than gas powered vehicles of the same size, wearing through tires faster and wearing out roads from their weight. Did the interviewer ask Jim what he’s driving?
Ford expects to introduce a $30,000 all-electric vehicle that will be profitable in roughly two and a half years, breaking a price barrier that has made the adoption of EVs an unobtainable luxury to all but the auto industry’s wealthiest customers.
Are their consumers calling for this?
Farley said Ford would focus on the new vehicle – not larger all-electric trucks and SUVs. Larger vehicles, using internal combustion engines, have traditionally driven US carmakers’ profits, especially at Ford.
“You have to make a radical change as an [automaker] to get to a profitable EV. The first thing we have to do is really put all of our capital toward smaller, more affordable EVs,” Farley said during an interview with CNBC’s Julia Boorstin.
Do consumers want these? Is Ford heading for another bankruptcy, because they are not listening to the purchasers?
But he said the stakes are high for Ford and the other automakers over the next five years, as they seek to compete with Chinese EV makers. Farley said it was crucial for Ford, which lost $132,000 on every EV sold in the first three months of the year, to make profitable EVs in the next five years.
That’s a rather stupid business model. What studies do they have that say consumers want these?
