Ford’s President of New Business Reveals Bold New Future Plans
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Jim Farley has been tasked with leading Ford into the future, and the dedicated gearhead brings a fresh perspective to Detroit.
In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, Ford’s President of New Business, Technology & Strategy, Jim Farley describes himself as someone passionate, intense, and a man who loves cars. Farley is a force in the workplace, who co-workers describe as exceedingly intense and straight to the point. He won’t sit through hours of dialogue when he can get right to the point. This has helped to make him a tremendously successful leader. Even Farley’s critics admit to his effectiveness on any given task. And this is why he is tasked with stewarding the future of Ford. Finding ways to improve is his sole mission.
The Detroit Free Press interview offers some fascinating insight. Farley is fire-and-foremost a true-blue car guy. His passion was evident early on. As a child, he’d sit in front of the television watching the Daytona 500, much to his father’s disapproval, but it was important to him, nonetheless. He spent summers in high school working in garages to learn how to rebuild cars. “All the things I liked about cars, it was innate,” he says. This passion led him to where he sits today as Ford’s President of New Business, Technology & Strategy.
Farley was lured away from Toyota over a decade ago to aid the struggling Detroit giant. And it clear that he has a lot of ideas, and a strong vision. And Farley is all about what best serves the customer, and keeping ahead of the trends.
Farley sees a disconnect between the collective auto industry’s dialogue of “old vs. new” and reality; which he believes is in transition. Farley describes how cars are, more and more, becoming connected to everything in our lives. Their transition being that vehicles are more than just about getting from point A to point B, they are becoming into fully integrated instruments of daily life.
He also says he once thought the most exciting thing about the automotive industries future was electric vehicles. However, while that is still a major force, he believes that it’s vehicle data that will shake things up. “What is really changing our industry is the fact that all the data in the car is shared with everything. And the vehicle is going to be able to do more and more…by itself.”
Farley goes on to say that within moving goods and people, there are dozens of sub-segments. “And we’ll have to decide which ones to serve, and which ones not to.” This sheds insight on Ford’s impactful decision to cease production of passenger cars (excluding the Mustang, of which Farley is a huge fan). Ford instead focused their attention on trucks and SUVs, and producing those of only the highest quality. While Ford may be dropping passenger cars, expect a greater level of attention to utility driven customers.
As Ford looks to the future, Farley intends to focus on cutting the cost of Ford’s vehicles. “What’s changing is that we’re making transportation more affordable for everyone,” he says. Farley shared that the average American spends $9,500 a year to own their car. “And for most people, it’s difficult to make ends meet.” Farley dreams of making cars affordable again as Ford once did with the Model T. More potential customers are finding ride-sharing services like Uber or Lyft, more cost-effective than vehicle ownership. For Farley, this isn’t okay.
With Ford leadership now choosing to focus on affordability, data integration, product specialization, and consistent improvement, the future looks to be bright for the Detroit monolith.
Photos: Ford
