Ford CEO Jim Farley has never shied away from speaking his thoughts on China’s car industry, often praising the rival nation as “humbling” and “superior” to Western brands.
However China’s success could come at the cost of legacy brands in North America, with Farley telling CBS Sunday Morning that the threat posed by China now exceeds that which Japan once held over the industry.
“Oh, I think it’s exactly the same thing, but it’s on steroids,” Farley said when asked whether the rise of China could be likened to Japan’s car industry domination.
“They have enough capacity in China with existing factories to serve the entire North American market, put us all out of business.
“Japan never had that. So, this is a completely different level of risk for our industry.”
China surpassed Japan as the largest exporter of vehicles in 2023, and it’s unlikely to relinquish that title – even with tariffs imposed by Europe and the US on certain automotive products.
Farley, who has served as Ford CEO for the past five years, has previously praised some of China’s carmakers.
“I don’t like talking about the competition so much, but I drive the Xiaomi,” Farley said on the Fully Charged podcast last year.
“We flew one from Shanghai to Chicago, and I’ve been driving it for six months now, and I don’t want to give it up.
“For a company like Ford, [the rise of China’s auto industry] has been something we’ve been watching for a while, but I’ve had two trips to China the last two years that were literally epiphanies.
“The last one was about the Xiaomi product. In the West, our cell phone companies don’t have car companies. But in China, both Huawei and Xiaomi, the two biggest cell phone companies, are inside of every vehicle that is made.
‘Humbling’ Chinese cars could end traditional brands – executive
“In fact, Xiaomi – you could argue [it’s] the Apple of China – they make the whole car, and now it’s one of the best-selling cars in China.
“Everyone’s talking about the [cancelled] Apple car, but the Xiaomi car now exists, it’s fantastic and they’re sold out for six months – that is an industry juggernaut and a consumer brand that is much stronger than car companies.”
Farley said earlier this year that Ford is “in a global competition with China”, and “if we lose this, we do not have a future at Ford.”
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