After the Ford chief executive revealed that he drives a US$ 30,000 Chinese-made electric sedan, he was immediately got ripped by critics, who called it a "slap in the face" to employees of the Detroit-based automaker.
Jim Farley, who has been CEO of Ford since October 2020, said he drives a Xiaomi SU7, an electric sedan that he had specially flown in from Shanghai. Introduced in December 2023, the SU7 is the first EV sold by Xiaomi, the world’s second-largest seller of smartphones.
Farley told "The Fully Charged Podcast" that he has no plans to abandon the car.
"I don’t like talking about the competition so much, but I drive the Xiaomi," Farley told podcast host Robert Llewellyn.
"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."
Farley wrote on his X social media account: "I try to drive everything we compete against. Have done it my whole career."
"Specs can tell part of a story, but you’ve got to get behind the wheel to truly understand and beat the competition."
Jason Isaac, who heads the American Energy Institute, immediately pounced on Farley.
"Jim Farley’s recent admission that he drives a Chinese-made electric vehicle is a slap in the face to the thousands of hardworking 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 his own company manufactures," he added.
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