Ford CEO Jim Farley says there’s barely any contest between Chinese and American automakers when it comes to dominating in EVs.
“The competitive reality is that the Chinese are the 700-pound gorilla in the EV industry,” Farley told The Verge’s “Decoder” podcast in an episode that aired Monday.
“There’s no real competition from Tesla, GM, or Ford with what we’ve seen from China. It is completely dominating the EV landscape globally and more and more outside of China,” he added.
Representatives for Farley at Ford did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Farley told guest host and journalist Joanna Stern that China’s dominance in the industry stemmed from the generous government support its automakers enjoyed.
“China’s successful for good reason. It has great innovation at a very low cost,” Farley said.
“There’s hundreds of companies, and they’re all sponsored by their local governments, so they have huge subsidies. It’s new brands. It’s BYD and Geely, and companies like Nio and Xiaomi, many of which have never been in the car business before, and that’s a big advantage for them,” he added.
Farley has talked about China’s lead in the EV race on multiple occasions.
In June, Farley said during a panel at the Aspen Ideas Festival that China’s EV progress is the “most humbling thing” he has ever seen.
“They have far superior in-vehicle technology. Huawei and Xiaomi are in every car,” Farley said. “You get in, you don’t have to pair your phone. Automatically, your whole digital life is mirrored in the car.”
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“We are in a global competition with China, and it’s not just EVs. And if we lose this, we do not have a future Ford,” he added.
Farley praised Chinese tech giant Xiaomi’s maiden electric vehicle, the SU7, in an episode of “The Fully Charged Podcast,” which aired in October 2024.
“I don’t like talking about the competition so much, but I drive the Xiaomi,” Farley said.
“We flew one from Shanghai to Chicago, and I’ve been driving it for six months now, and I don’t want to give it up,” he added.
Farley isn’t the only one who sees China’s dominance in EVs as a byproduct of the country’s lower labor costs and generous subsidies.
The Centre for Strategic & International Studies said in a report published last year that China’s government has spent at least $230 billion funding local EV makers between 2009 and 2023.
“There’s not something magical when you take it apart that’s allowing these really impressive cost structures,” RJ Scaringe, the CEO of American EV maker Rivian, told the “Everything Electric” podcast in an episode that aired in September.
“There’s no secret magic thing that you’re like, ‘Oh, aha, they did this.’ But rather it’s the compounding benefits of a lower cost of capital,” he added.
