Ford chief executive Jim Farley has told the automaker’s employees that the company can no longer ignore the threat being posed by Tesla.
Farley recently led a meeting with employees and video from this meeting shows him discussing just how rapidly Tesla is expanding and what it has done to establish such a strong lead in the electric vehicle industry. Farley’s comments come just a couple of weeks after VW chief executive Herbert Diess praised Tesla and said the German automaker needs to accelerate its transition to EVs if it wants to remain the world’s largest automaker.
“If Ford was a trillion-dollar company, our stock would be worth about $250 a share. Think about the value creation of Tesla right now. And they have resources, smart people, the Model 3 is now the bestselling vehicle in Europe. Not electric. Flat out,” Farley is quoted as saying. “It was the bestselling vehicle in the UK. Most months, it’s the bestselling vehicle in California. Not just electric, but overall. If we’re going to succeed, we can’t ignore this competition anymore.”
Farley went on to describe some of the key things that separate Tesla from legacy automakers that have dominated the industry for so many decades.
“Look at Tesla, why are they doing what they’re doing and what can we learn from them. First, they have a direct model … There’s no one in between,” he added. “They make it so easy. Three or four clicks configuring the vehicle with not a lot of complexity to delivering it to the customer. Simple, non-negotiated pricing. A large reservation system as well as remote service. Second, Tesla maximizes use of electrons in the vehicle. No one does it better than they do. Their customers pay less for a better battery… Third, the product itself is highly differentiated from the rest of the ICE field and complexity is tiny, compared to OEMs.”
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The Detroit Free Press notes that Farley also spoke about Rivian, mentioning how it has already started deliveries of its electric pickup truck despite being a startup.
Speaking with members of the media after the meeting, Ford employee Ryan McManus said that there was a positive tone to the meeting.
“It was almost like taking apart a close win after a football game. You feel good about the win. You come into the locker room, the coach says ‘great win’ and here are the places you didn’t come through, you need to work on, and this is where we’ll practice this week,” he described. “The tone of the meeting wasn’t negative, it was very positive. We need to try and get down to less complexity and fewer screens. Simplicity is hard. Challengers, especially startups like Tesla, have the advantage of a clean sheet …”
