Ford's CEO Doesn't Want To Stop Driving China's Apple Car

Ford CEO Jim Farley has been driving an imported Xiaomi SU7 for months. He says it's fantastic.

Xiaomi Topshot Ford CEO

Photo by: Xiaomi

Kevin Williams

By: Kevin Williams

Oct 23, 2024 at 4:41pm ET

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Ford imported a Xiaomi SU7 from Shanghai to Chicago, where CEO Jim Farley has been driving at round for months.
The Xiaomi SU7 is sold out for the rest of the year in China, with all 100,000 units spoken for.
Xiaomi plans to further expand in the EV market with a crossover in the near future. It could also introduce a range-extended EV with a gas motor, and a low-cost hatchback.

It seems like more and more American automotive CEOs are starting to understand just how “cooked” American companies are in the face of advanced competitors from China. This week, Ford CEO Jim Farley dropped a bombshell on a podcast; he’s been driving an imported Xiaomi SU7 sedan from China around Chicago for six months. He called the car fantastic, and he doesn’t want to give it up. This is the second manufacturer we know of that has imported an SU7 to evaluate. A few weeks ago RJ Scaringe brought one into the country, too.

This week, Farley did a 40-minute long podcast on the Everything Electric Show, where he discussed Ford’s future and what he experienced in China. The Xiaomi SU7 was one of the big “epiphanies” that Farley had, recognizing just how far off he and other Western manufacturers were when it came to China. “In the West, our cell phone companies aren’t into cars, they don’t have car companies. But in China, both Huawei and Xiaomi are inside every vehicle that is made,” said Farley.

Farley admitted that his trips to China and experience with the Xiaomi made Ford really go into deep thought about what the company needs to do next. “Everyone’s talking about the Apple Car, but the Xiaomi car…The [Xiaomi SU7] exists, and it’s fantastic. They sell 10,000, 20,000 a month and they’re sold out for six months. That is a consumer brand that is much stronger than car companies,” said Farley. Farley's revelation has had a mini viral moment in China, according to Chinese EV analyst and expert Lei Xing.

Farley is speaking on what I, and other journalists, pundits and EV and China experts have noticed for quite a while now: China’s tech and automotive industries are far more interconnected than the automotive and tech industries in the West. The Xiaomi SU7, on its face, is simply another product in Xiaomi’s range of consumer electronics and cell phones. Xiaomi’s car uses the same operating system as its phones and tablets; accessories for the car can be purchased in the same store where you'd buy a phone. Similarly, Huawei’s Harmony OS is quickly permeating the Chinese car industry, as Huawei offers full-stack software solutions for smaller brands uninterested in making their own. Geely by and large doesn’t use Huawei or Xiaomi’s software, because it bought a whole cell phone company (Meizu) that developed Flyme Auto.

Xiaomi SU7

We kind of have that with Google's Android Automotive, but from what I (and likely Farley) have experienced, it just isn’t currently on the same level as Chinese EV tech in terms of integration and refinement. China’s tech industry and automotive brands have joined hands, and they are moving in lockstep.

“I can’t unlearn the fact that the Detroit Three never really had a plan,” said Farley, referring to the inroads that Toyota and Honda made in the 1970s and 1980s in the U.S. American companies were slow to adapt to the newfound competition. “And we’re not going to miss this one. This one, we’re going to have to get it right from scratch,” Farley continued. He said that Ford realized that it would have a hard time competing with brands like BYD, thus it needed to start from scratch with a whole new ground-up approach. Which, is where Ford’s skunkworks-like team for its low-cost EVs came from.

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The whole podcast is very intriguing to listen to. Will Ford be able to compete? It's not clear. By Farley's own admission, Ford has to get it right the first time it tries. China has such a huge lead on the rest of the world, it will take a lot of work to catch up. Recognizing that, it's not surprising that Farley doesn't want to give up the keys to his Xiaomi just yet.

Contact the author: kevin.williams@insideevs.com.

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