DEARBORN, MI - MAY 19: Jim Farley, CEO of Ford Motor Company, poses with the new all-electric F-150 Lightning performance truck at its reveal at Ford World Headquarters on May 19, 2021 in Dearborn, Michigan. The truck will be built at the all-new Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn starting in the Spring of 2022. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
Ford CEO Jim Farley raised eyebrows when he revealed he drives a Xiaomi SUZ7 EV, made in China, as opposed to a vehicle from his own company.
In an interview on Robert Llewellyn’s Fully Charged Show, which focuses on electric vehicles, Farley admitted he had been driving his new wheels for a few months and, “I don’t want to give it up.”
He shared, “I don’t like talking about the competition so much, but I drive the Xiaomi…We flew one from Shanghai to Chicago.”
Farley’s remarks prompted a plethora of irked responses online as (mostly former) potential customers questioned why they should buy from Ford if the company’s own CEO doesn’t even prize their cars over others.
A variety of internet users theorized that Farley has been influenced (or, according to many, compromised) by the Chinese Communist Party as it pushes foreign nations to adopt Chinese manufacturing over domestic competition.
Farley defended himself in a statement posted to X, which read, “I try to drive everything we compete against. Have done it my whole career. Specs can tell part of a story, but you’ve to get behind the wheel to truly understand and beat the competition.”
In contrast to the slew of judgemental remarks, some observers were impressed by Farley’s honesty; one internet user commented, “Jim Farley is probably the ONLY Western CEO [to] truly understand the current situation AND speak it out frankly.” Another wrote, “What a remarkable opportunity to listen to a CEO of a legacy car company being as transparent as he could be, bringing out the reality of Chinese manufacturing and the dire need to change.”
The car, which is Xiaomi’s first electric vehicle, debuted in December 2023 and sells for roughly $30,000. Xiaomi’s cars are not sold in the U.S., and there is a 100% tariff imposed on Chinese electric vehicles, making it all the harder for Americans to acquire them.
Ford has benefited from massive subsidies from the federal government for U.S. electric cars.
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