For some time now, Ford CEO Jim Farleyan inveterate petrolhead who we sometimes see competing on circuits with his Ford Mustang Dark Horse R, shows a very different side. A face of admiration for what Xiaomi has managed to do with its electric sedan, the SU7 that he himself has used as transportation from home to work for months.
In 2024 Farley went to China and told his team to choose the five best Chinese electric cars. These cars were taken from China to Chicago and then to the brand’s headquarters in Michigan. In this way, they can better understand the Chinese competition and even dissect it, but none has made as much of an impression on Farley as the SU7 that we are still waiting for on European soil.
Ford CEO continues to praise the Xiaomi SU7
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In an interview with the Argentine media La Nación, Farley has continued to praise the oriental electric sedan. Farley was recently in Argentina, visiting the plant located in Pachecowhere they manufacture the Ford Ranger that is sold in that part of the world. A plant with six decades of history, where models such as the Escort, Focus and Orion have also been manufactured.
The head of the oval brand blue has highlighted the level of technology one experiences from the moment one sits inside the SU7a level of technology that is not seen even in Premium cars on the European market. Among these functions, Farley highlights facial recognition, which replaces the pairing of the mobile device with the car.
Xiaomi, the Apple of China according to Farley
«I was very impressed with Xiaomi. It doesn’t surprise me at all that they are so successful, they are the Apple of China. You get into the car with a cell phone and there is no need to pair it because it recognizes you immediately. Has facial recognitionan in-vehicle AI assistant and can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in three seconds with the push of a button. “It feels like a Porsche Taycan,” says Farley.
«Ford missed the train from Japan, Ford missed the train from South Korea, so we can’t miss the train from China. The message to my team is clear: If the CEO respects competition from China, everyone in the company should do it,” Farley added.
Respect for competition from China
These statements about South Korea have an ironic nuance taking into account that Hyundai precisely began its journey assembling Ford models in the sixties, models such as the Cortina or the Granada. Ford also owned Kia for a time, before it went bankrupt and Hyundai itself saved it in 1998 by taking over the majority of its shares.
To gain technological advantage (or rather regain ground), Ford acquired the services of Doug Fieldpreviously chief engineer of the Tesla Model 3 and participant in Apple’s project to have its own autonomous car. Field, now chief designer of its electric cars, explained to them how far Ford was behind in some aspects.
Ford admits about 25 years of delay in some aspects
“Doug told me: Jim, your component release system, computer architecture, and CAD design tools are 25 years out of date. You can’t compete like that with BYD. You need real experience»Farley revealed. Of course, not the entire industry that has dissected Xiaomi’s SU7 thinks the same as the Ford CEO.
Meanwhile, The oval brand continues to develop its EVslike the Explorer, Capri, Puma Gen-E and Mustang Mach-E that we find in our market. It will not be an electric car, but we will soon have a variant of the Bronco in our market that will be manufactured at the Almussafes (Valencia) plant, positioned between the Puma and the Kuga as a C-segment crossover or SUV.
