Ford CEO Jim Farley said he tested a Xiaomi EV, and not a Tesla, for a reason.
In an interview with “Rapid Response” released on Friday, host Bob Safian asked Farley why he had driven a Xiaomi SU7 EV in 2024 rather than a Tesla to gauge the competition. Farley replied that to beat China in the car business, he would not necessarily focus on Tesla.
“Nothing against Tesla — they’ve been doing great — but they really don’t have an updated vehicle,” he said to Safian.
He said Chinese car brands like BYD are the “best in the business,” considering their cost, supply chain, and manufacturing expertise.
“Now, if we’re smart, we’ll take the cost competitiveness of BYD and then compete with that platform in parts of the market where we know our customers really well,” Farley said.
“This next cycle of EV customers in the US that want pickups and utilities and all these different body styles, but they want it at $30,000, not $50,000 like the first inning,” he added. “They want it affordably.”
Farley said China’s progress in automobiles is something to be feared and respected, a message he has repeated several times in recent years.
In 2024, Farley said in a podcast interview that he had been driving a Xiaomi SU7 for six months and did not want to give it up. And earlier in April, he said on “Fox & Friends” that Chinese cars entering the US would be “devastating” to the US’s manufacturing industry, which he called the “heart and soul” of the country.
Farley’s comments on “Rapid Response” come as Ford has pivoted from producing its F-150 Lightning purely electric pickup trucks to smaller, more affordable, and hybrid cars. Ford said in December that the move would cost the company about $19.5 billion.
Currently, Ford’s cheapest hybrid vehicle is its Maverick XL pickup, which starts at around $28,000. Tesla’s cheapest model is its Model 3, which starts at $36,990.
Representatives for Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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