Jim Farley Has A Plan For The Future Of Ford — More Low-Volume, High-Profit Cars

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A few days ago, Michael Barnard slammed Jim Farley for being asleep at the wheel during his time as CEO of Ford Motor Company. Michael’s primary complaint about Farley is that he has failed to usher Ford into the electric car era fast enough. He contended that only in the middle of last year did Farley realize the Chinese weren’t just doing cheap knockoffs of US products and buying US brand cars with the proceeds.

“Presumably, it took a year for this to become public because Farley’s sleeping pattern was so disrupted that he couldn’t concentrate. That would explain why electric vehicles were only 1.65% of Ford’s global sales in 2023, and still only a paltry 4.3% in the first half of 2024. Meanwhile, Tesla sold 25 times as many electric cars globally. BYD sold 41 times as many plug-in cars. While those two firms are the highest volume car, SUV, and light truck OEMs in the electric arena, Ford has been outsold by 180 times in this space,” Barnard wrote.

In response, Ford reached out to CleanTechnica to make their case as to why and how Farley had not been asleep on what’s happening in China. Additionally, in response, Zachary Shahan wrote a followup piece arguing that Farley had actually done a pretty good job at grabbing Ford by the scruff of the neck and dragging it forward into the EV future. It has in fact created a separate division within its corporate structure called “Model e” that is dedicated exclusively to the development, manufacture, and sale of electric vehicles. Some readers will recall a time when Elon Musk got his knickers in a knot because Ford had trademarked “Model E,” thus preventing Tesla for using it. That suggests the Model e division was not some Johnny Come Lately afterthought. Somebody within the company had actually been planning for the EV future quite a few years ago.

Just a few days ago, my colleague Tina Casey wrote about a new initiative started by Jim Farley to address the fear of the unknown that keeps many potential EV owners from considering an electric car. Ford wants to solve that by giving customers a free EV charger and assistance from a licensed electrician to install it (in most cases), which seems to indicate Ford really does see the big picture when it comes to marketing electric vehicles.

Ford Doubles Down On Iconic Cars

During a recent interview with the UK’s Car Magazine to introduced the new battery electric Ford Explorer for Europe, Jim Farley’s alter ego made a surprise appearance. He said the company’s marketing plan going forward was to stop building “boring” cars and start selling “iconic” EVs, off-road trucks, SUVs, and crossovers, as well as more muscle cars. “We’re getting out of the boring car business and into the iconic vehicle business,” he said in the interview.

This isn’t the first time Ford has slashed its lineup to focus on a small number of the most profitable — and expensive — models. Ford stopped selling the Fusion in the US in 2020. The Focus is set to be discontinued next year. The Fiesta was killed off in 2023; the Flex in 2019. The C-Max left the stage in 2018 and 2019 for the regular and hybrid models, respectively. The last Taurus rolled off the factory floor in 2019.

What all of these models had in common was that they were priced lower than Ford’s other offerings but still high for their market segments. Ford is no stranger to cutting its most affordable, least profitable models. It seems yet again the company is angling away from its roots as the name that brought automobiles to the masses to focus instead on catering to wealthier clientele.

Autoblog sums it up quite nicely when it says “boring” translates to affordable cars and trucks. A notable exception to this trend is the Ford Maverick, which is a pickup truck and not a car. It remains perhaps the most affordable vehicle Ford offers in its class. But there is a twist to the Maverick story. Ford was blindsided by demand for the hybrid version, which is preferred by the majority of Maverick customers. However, the trend is clear — bigger, faster, and costlier vehicles are coming from Ford in the near future.

In the interview, Farley stressed that Ford’s future lies in higher-end markets. “We can take on Porsche with Mustang — it’s the best-selling sports coupe in the world. We’re going to invest in that brand and get stronger and stronger.” Considering his recent dire warnings about Chinese EVs, it seems Farley’s own solution to hyper-competitive Chinese cars is to simply not compete with them. Ford seems on track to leave the less profitable and soon-to-be-crowded cheap car markets entirely and focus exclusively on the wealthy, Autoblog says.

As proof that the new strategy will work, Farley highlighted the success Ford has had with the Raptor truck as indicative of where he would like to see the brand go as a whole. Introduced in 2010 as the premium performance version of the Ford F-150, the Raptor has gone on to wild success across the U.S. and Europe. With more capabilities and a higher price tag to match, Raptor is considered by many a runaway success. “The Raptor story is a great example of where I think our passenger cars should go,” says Farley.

Raptor, Mustang, Bronco, and EVs are being prioritized in the hopes that they will continue to perform. While Chinese EVs don’t yet have a foothold in the US, they are gaining ground in Europe. However, there is no shortage of luxury brands already established on both sides of the Atlantic. Ford is trying to transition from a brand for the everyman to a brand for the wealthy thrill seeker, and may find itself straddling the precarious line between both if it is unable to make enough of a splash, Autoblog says.

The Takeaway

This is bold talk from Ford and Jim Farley, but around the cucumber infused water dispenser in the CleanTechnica writers lounge, there is plenty of skepticism. Sales of conventional cars are down by a few percentage points in Europe and the US, which may be a harbinger of tough times to come for the car business. People are tired of paying more for a new car today than they did for a home ten years ago. Loading up on premium models doesn’t seem like the right strategy at a time when demand for conventional cars may be waning. In China today, more than half of new cars sold are new energy vehicles, and the emphasis is on price cutting, not price increases.

On a personal note, there is no way a Ford Mustang, with its bulk and girth, can compete with the lithe offerings from Porsche. That’s like saying a Ford Torino was the equal of a Maserati Quatroporte. Ford may wish it was a luxury automaker, but its two latest electric car offerings — the European Explorer and the Capri EV — are based on a now outdated Volkswagen MEB platform. It’s hard to imagine buyers will consider either to be “iconic” or be willing to pay a premium to own one.

Jim Farley seems to have a different crystal ball than we do here at CleanTechnica. We want him to be right and for Ford to enjoy continued success but there is a vibe in this announcement that sounds a little desperate. Nissan is sliding toward the drain. Could Ford be next? It’s too soon to say, but the happy talk from Jim Farley is not as reassuring as he may think it is.