- Ford’s CEO has revealed that he was able to green-light a multi-million dollar commercial deal with VW in just 15 minutes.
- The German company thought Jim Farley was joking because it had needed two months to reach the same conclusion.
- Ford and VW’s joint venture resulted in the VW ID.4-based Explorer and Capri EVs, and a Transporter built from a Ford Transit.
Huge multinational companies aren’t known for their ability to make quick decisions. But some move faster than others, a point Ford boss Jim Farley made by revealing that he signed off in 15 minutes on a joint project with VW that took the German firm two months to green-light.
Farley was extolling the virtues of working for a family-run business at the Automotive News Congress in Detroit when he explained how Ford and VW came together to share platforms for a series of new EVs and commercial vehicles.
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VW needed two months to give the venture the all-clear because it had to secure a yes vote from the Piech and Porsche families, plus the German state of Lower Saxony and unions, Auto News reports Farley telling the conference.
But in complete contrast, Farley was able to press go in just 15 minutes because all he had to do was to take a short walk to the office of Bill Ford, the automaker’s chairman, and great-grandson of founder Henry. Bill Ford agreed that a tie-up made solid business sense, so after speaking with a few more Ford execs Farley grabbed the still-warm phone and gave VW the good news.
“We’re ready to go,” Dearborn’s CEO told his German counterpart. But so little time had passed that the VW suit wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not, apparently asking Farley: “Are you kidding me?”
That deal was inked in June 2020 and gave Ford access to VW’s ID.4 electric car platform, which it has used to create the European-market Explorer SUV and Capri crossover that are both on sale this year. In return VW was able to build the T7 Transporter (pictured below) and Caravelle from Ford’s Transit architecture.
“We all feel that we are working for something bigger than just profits,” Farley told attendees, noting that Bill Ford’s children now work for the automaker, meaning the Ford family is on its sixth generation.
“We want to make sure this family is going to prosper for another six generations,” he added. “For me personally, it adds great meaning to my work.”
