Ford (NYSE: F) CEO Jim Farley told an audience at the 2025 Aspen Ideas Festival, “We are in a global competition with China and it’s not just EVs and if we lose this we do not have a future at Ford.” He had been to China, driven its EVs, and looked at a standard they have set that is well above Ford’s. It is not the first time he has made a similar observation.
Key Points
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China Can Make High Quality And Inexpensive EVs
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Ford Has Invested $30 Billion Into EVs And Has Tiny Sales
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Among the things that Farley is anxious about are obvious. First, China can make EVs and sell them for a fraction of what Ford charges for EVs today. For example, the F-150 Lighting, which is Ford’s flagship EV, has a base price of $63,000. That can rise to $70,000 quickly with only modest feature additions. Ford only sells a few thousand of these a quarter, despite a total investment in its EV future of what appears to be nearly $30 billion.
Although China’s least expensive EVs cannot be compared to the Lightning, some of its auto companies there have vehicles priced below $15,000. That price point is a Holy Grail for US manufacturers.
China car companies can also add new models more quickly than US car companies can. That means they can react to the market fast.
China also has at least five financially viable EV manufacturers, led by BYD. These include GAC Aion Li Auto, Nio, and SAIC Motor. Even smartphone company Xiaomi has joined the sector.
China car companies are as close to autonomous driving as Tesla, and Google’s Waymo. They also have seamless pairing with smartphones which allows them to detect driver and passenger habits.
Chinese auto companies are also rushing to get into Asia, South America, and Africa. BYD has started to move into Europe.
The barrier to the entry of Chinese cars into the U.S. is a 100% tariff. Under the Trump Administration, there is no way to say how long that will last.
Ford was founded 122 years ago. There is no guarantee it will make it another decade–or less.
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