Ford’s chief executive revealed that he drives a $30,000 Chinese-made electric sedan — and was ripped off by critics, who called it a “slap in the face” for the Detroit-based automaker’s employees.
Farley, who has been Ford’s CEO since October 2020, said he drives a Xiaomi SU7, an electric sedan that retails for $30,000 that he had specially flown in from Shanghai. Launched in December 2023, the SU7 is the first EV sold by Xiaomi, the world’s second largest smartphone vendor.
Farley told The Fully Charged Podcast that he has no plans to abandon the car.
“I don’t like to talk about the competition that much, but I drive a Xiaomi,” Farley told podcast host Robert Llewellyn.
“We’ve flown one from Shanghai to Chicago, and I’ve been running it for six months now and I don’t want to give it up.”
Farley wrote on his X social media account: “I try to run everything we compete against. I’ve done it my whole career.”
“Specs can tell part of a story, but you have to get behind the wheel to really understand and beat the competition.”
Jason Isaac, who heads the US Energy Institute, attacked Farley.
“Jim Farley’s recent admission that he drives an electric vehicle made in China is a slap in the face to thousands of hard-working employees at Ford Motor Company,” Isaac told National Review.
“At a time when Ford is receiving billions of dollars in subsidies from American taxpayers to support domestic EV production, it is deeply troubling that the company’s chief executive would choose a Chinese product over an American vehicle that his company makes,” it added. he.
The Post has sought comment from Ford.
The Xiaomi SU7 was introduced to great fanfare in China, but the vehicle is not available for purchase in the US because the federal government has imposed a 100% tariff on electric vehicles made in China, making them prohibitively expensive for to be imported.
Xiaomi’s vehicle also does not meet regulatory safety standards required of all cars, while its charging specifications make it incompatible with the US system.
The Beijing-based company, which Farley referred to as the “Apple of China” and said to have a market capitalization of between $82 billion and $83 billion, has been unable to break into the U.S. market due to various restrictions placed on Chinese technology.
Farley gushed about Xiaomi, calling it an “industry giant” and a “consumer brand that’s much stronger than the car companies.”
In 2021, the Biden administration removed Xiaomi from a government blacklist of companies feared to have ties to the Chinese military.
The Biden administration and Congress have tried to prevent American companies from investing in Chinese firms that allegedly help the country’s military gain a technological edge over American forces.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has stated in the past that he opposes tariffs on electric vehicles made in China – although he has also said that without trade barriers, Chinese automakers would “destroy” their global rivals. .
The world’s largest electric vehicle maker is BYD, the Chinese automaker that counts Warren Buffett among its investors.
Chinese car companies were “the most competitive” and “will have significant success outside of China, depending on what kind of tariffs or trade barriers,” Musk told investors in January.
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