I like Ford CEO Jim Farley. I think he has both the smarts and dash to lead Ford through the transformation from ICE [Internal Combustion Engine] to the all electric age--to the new Model T so to speak and a struggle to survive in the new age. Will Detroit's 'Big 3' Ford, GM, and Stellantis survive?

In a global tele-townhall with 20,000 Ford employees he laid out the following [lengthy but worth reading] assessment of Tesla's success and the reasons for it.
“Look at Tesla, why are they doing what they're doing and what can we learn from them. First, they have a direct model ... There's no one in between. They make it so easy. Three or four clicks configuring the vehicle with not a lot of complexity to delivering it to the customer. Simple, non-negotiated pricing. A large reservation system as well as remote service.

“Second, Tesla maximizes use of electrons in the vehicle. No one does it better than they do. Their customers pay less for a better battery. Their focus ... after they launch the vehicle, their obsession after the launch of the vehicle, to make the customer experience better, to re-engineer the electronic components, to simplify, to address quality based on data coming off the vehicles, to reduce the bill of material based on how people actually use the vehicle, to drive vertical integration, so they do more and they solve the hardest problems at Tesla. And they manage every electron so they can be as efficient as possible with the expense of battery.

“Third, the product itself is highly differentiated from the rest of the ICE field and complexity is tiny, compared to OEMs,” Farley said, referring to automakers by their old-fashioned trade term, original equipment manufacturers.

“... That allows them to have enormous reuse. Reuse that we've never seen in our ICE business. Tesla can scale quickly because of that complexity reduction. They can drive cost down, which they have. They can keep processes simple.”

He urged employees to think differently, to be creative, to help look for ways to make Ford more efficient, more nimble, more cost-effective.
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