Farley compared the price war in the EV market toseries of price cuts for the Model T starting in 1913. But the Ford chief said the company founder's strategy ultimately put Ford at risk.
"You do not want to commoditize the product," Farley said at a Wall Street Journal forum."The resale value for people who bought at higher prices is awful. They never forget."Tesla's Model YOn other points, Farley said Ford does not plan to drop Apple CarPlay software that allows customers to mirror their smartphone screens in a vehicle's dashboard.In terms of entertainment streamed into a car,"we kind of lost that battle 10 years ago," Farley said.
Ford chose to build a new electric vehicle manufacturing hub near Memphis, Tennessee, in part because the region has cleaner electricity from hydro and nuclear facilities, Farley said. Ford will train workers for that facility, and will invest in retraining current workers, Farley said. But not all Ford employees will make the transition to electric vehicles, he said.