Jim Farley does a lot of complaining for a man who made $20 million last year. Seemingly immune to the copious amount of media training he must have received, the Ford CEO, in his frequent media appearances, has been awkward and whiny, like if Nathan Fielder was tasked with playing an aggrieved auto executive. The content he controls himself—on a YouTube channel with six subscribers—isn’t much different. A clip edited to evoke the manly bravado of the electric F-150, in which Farley is road-tripping, shows a stilted exchange with The Rock and a repair-shop employee asking Farley if he can work in the shade. “Yeah,” Farley responds.
“What a great trip it’s been,” Farley concludes. “My big takeaway is that we’re just in the first inning in this E.V. revolution and digital revolution with software, is that it’s actually a human opportunity.” With 48 views, it’s the channel’s most-watched content. Farley is a loser in a more literal sense, though. After fearmongering that the United Auto Workers’ demands of the Big Three automakers could cause Ford to go bankrupt, he conceded after a six-week strike to a 25 percent pay increase for employees over the next four years. Starting wages under the new contract—approved by UAW members in November—jumped from $18.04 to $30.35, and its terms will cover workers at planned Ford battery plants in Tennessee and Michigan. While a loss for Farley, the outcome was considered a big victory for both labor and climate advocates excited to see strike action secure better wages and working conditions for workers building electric vehicles.
When it comes to the E.V. transition, though, Ford seems to be losing in even more profound ways. In December, the carmaker slashed its 2024 production schedule for the Lightning F-150 in half, and now it aims to manufacture 1,600 per week in its Dearborn factory. It’ll hold off on $12 billion of spending on E.V.s as Ford expects its arm that deals with electric vehicles, Model E, to lose around $4.5 billion this year. The company has blamed this poor performance on sluggish demand, a lack of charging infrastructure, and falling prices for electric vehicles. “There are plenty of customers” for E.V.s, Farley has argued. “The issue is the price they’re willing to pay has come down.”