WASHINGTON — Ford CEO Jim Farley mentioned Wednesday value slicing within the electrical car market “is a worrying pattern” after the U.S. automaker dropped costs for the Mustang Mach-E in response to a sequence of reductions by rival Tesla.
Ford on Tuesday introduced a value minimize of as much as 8% of its Mustang Mach-E electrical car, the second minimize the automaker introduced this 12 months.
Farley in contrast the worth conflict within the EV market to Henry Ford’s sequence of value cuts for the Mannequin T beginning in 1913. However the Ford chief mentioned the corporate founder’s technique finally put Ford in danger.
“You don’t want to commoditize the product,” Farley mentioned at a Wall Avenue Journal discussion board. “The resale worth for individuals who purchased at larger costs is terrible. They always remember.”
Ford will observe Tesla value cuts for fashions such because the Mustang Mach-E, which competes head-on with Tesla’s Mannequin Y, he mentioned. However, “There’s a restrict to how far we’ll go.”
On different factors, Farley mentioned Ford doesn’t plan to drop Apple CarPlay software program that enables prospects to reflect their smartphone screens in a car’s dashboard. Normal Motors lately mentioned it’ll section out CarPlay in future fashions.
By way of leisure streamed right into a automobile, “we sort of misplaced that battle 10 years in the past,” Farley mentioned. Furthermore, “70% of Ford prospects within the U.S. are Apple prospects.”
Ford selected to construct a brand new electrical car manufacturing hub close to Memphis, Tennessee, partly as a result of the area has cleaner electrical energy from hydro and nuclear services, Farley mentioned.
Ford will practice employees for that facility, and can put money into retraining present employees, Farley mentioned. However not all Ford staff will make the transition to electrical automobiles, he mentioned.
“We will not upskill everybody,” he mentioned. “It’ll take an excessive amount of time.”