Ford CEO Farley: We Have A Secret Cheap Electric Vehicle ‘Skunkworks’ Project To Take On Tesla And The Chinese Automakers
The secret is out.
Ford CEO Jim Farley revealed during the company’s 2023 earnings call that Ford has a secret low-cost electric vehicle project in the works.
He called it a “skunkworks” and said it was operating like a startup outside of the rest of Ford.
“Some of the best EV engineers in the world,” he said.
Farley said Ford “made a bet in silence” about two years ago that would allow it to compete with the announced $25,000 Tesla and low priced models from Chinese automakers.
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He didn’t offer any details on the vehicle or the project, but said that the platform would support a variety of models and act as a “software install base” for revenue-generating digital services.
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In 2021, Ford executive Kumar Galhotra told Automotive news the company’s goal was to drive electric vehicle prices below $25,000.
“The prize is to bring that point lower and lower so that high volume, smaller-sized vehicles can be profitable as well. I can’t say that right now, today,” Galhotra said.
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“If we go much lower with a price point, say $20,000, it obviously won’t be possible. But we’re working towards it.”
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