Overview

• At the Aspen Ideas Festival on June 30, Jim Farley described China’s electric-vehicle industry as “the most humbling thing I have ever seen,” highlighting its superior cost, quality and in-car tech from Huawei and Xiaomi.
• Farley noted that Chinese automakers produce about 70% of the world’s EVs and warned that losing ground in this global race could jeopardize Ford’s future.
• He underscored that massive subsidies and vertical integration enable Chinese firms to drive down costs while delivering digital features that mirror users’ devices without manual pairing.
• In response, Ford is accelerating its “Model T of EVs” project targeting a $30,000 price point and licensing CATL’s LFP technology to build batteries in Michigan.
• Meanwhile, rivals like BYD are expanding overseas with aggressively priced models such as the Seagull hatchback, which retails under $10,000 in China and about $26,000 in Europe.