Ford CEO Jim Farley said western automakers are “in a fight for our lives” against Chinese competition, reports the Guardian.
Farley spoke in Paris December 9, announcing a new partnership with France’s Renault, which involves the two working together on two smaller electric cars, with the first to go on sale as soon as early 2028. They will also look at producing vans together.
“We know we’re in a fight for our lives in our industry,” Jim Farley told journalists. “There is no better example than here in Europe.”
The Guardian says that producing smaller electric vehicles cheaply has been particularly tricky for European carmakers, who have tended to focus their efforts on larger cars that have space for a bigger battery. Chinese electric carmakers have risen to substantial market share, even in Europe, as manufacturers such as BYD and Chery International have produced well-reviewed electric cars that are typically smaller, and cost less than those offered by U.S. and European manufacturers.
Farley also criticized European electric car sales targets this week, writing in the Financial Times that the continent’s carmakers faced “the world’s most aggressive carbon mandates” at the same time as “a flood of state-subsidized EV imports from China.”
Ford announced 4,000 job cuts last year, including 800 in the U.K, also cutting back planned production of the new electric Explorer and Capri models, citing the “weak economic situation and lower-than-expected demand for electric cars.”
