He said it on a podcast, discussing the future of EVs. He was praising the competition for what they are doing well, with the implication that Ford needs to do better in those areas.
“This Xiaomi car… is fantastic. They sell ten thousand, twenty thousand a month,” Farley said. “I don’t like talking about the competition much, but we flew [an SU7] from Shanghai to Chicago and I’ve been driving it for six months now, and I don’t want to give it up.”
Farley didn’t mention which version of the SU7 he imported, but it’s normal for automakers to test out their competitors’ vehicles to better understand what they’re up against.
Xiaomi doesn’t sell cars in America, and even if you went the “I’ll just bring one here” route the CEO did, there’s ~100% tariffs on them, so I’d bet he doesn’t see them as a competitor at this time and is just being somewhat candid.
I’m confused. I assume they didn’t let them publish that by accident, so what does Ford try to achieve here?
He said it on a podcast, discussing the future of EVs. He was praising the competition for what they are doing well, with the implication that Ford needs to do better in those areas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGx7AyD9okg
The podcast in question.
Xiaomi doesn’t sell cars in America, and even if you went the “I’ll just bring one here” route the CEO did, there’s ~100% tariffs on them, so I’d bet he doesn’t see them as a competitor at this time and is just being somewhat candid.
Hm, maybe it was intended as a warning to his own company like “get your shit together, there is a threat emerging”.