Ford CEO Jim Farley on Potential $300,000 Off-Road Supercar

Small businesses are the pulse of every community.

They bring people together, create opportunities, and drive growth.

Chase for Business helps business owners like you with personalized guidance and convenient digital tools all in one place.

With that guidance and your determination, you can take your business farther and help build a brighter future for your community.

Learn more at Chase.com slash business.

Chase for Business. Make more of what's yours.

The Chase mobile app is available for select mobile devices.

Message and data rates may apply.

JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA, member FDIC.

Copyright, 2026, JPMorgan Chase & Company.

Bloomberg Audio Studios.

Podcasts, radio, news.

I'm Matt Miller.

And I'm Hannah Elliott.

And this is Hot Pursuit.

And this is a very special edition of the podcast because, Hannah, you were last week also.

At Monterey Car Week, but you're still there.

And you just got to sit down in a room with Ford CEO Jim Farley, who I guess has just finished judging the concord.

This is actually kind of the climax of the whole week.

We are in Casa Palmero at the Pebble Beach Golf Links.

And it's basically the end of the day.

Jim and I both got up for Dawn Patrol, which is a 5.45 a.m. commitment to watch the cars roll onto the lawn.

And then Jim, of course, has a car that's entered into the concord, a Lincoln, but also he's the judge.

So he just finished judging and came in here to talk to us, which was a really great thing.

And of course, we love to talk to him because he's so fascinating to talk to.

And so passionate.

Yes.

He bleeds oil.

Like, it's unbelievable how much this guy loves cars.

It's so inspiring.

And I don't want to gush because everybody's different.

But I will say not every automaker truly loves and believes in the cars the way that Jim does.

It's on another level, you know, and it is really fun to be around because he is a true believer for sure.

It's fun.

Let's get straight into the interview now and I'll meet you back here in 30 minutes.

I was here at four because I was showing my old Lincoln.

So I got up at, I was here at four trying to get the car ready.

We had a fire during the tour.

So we had to repair the car this morning.

And I'm also 11 or 12 year into judging here.

I'm a technical judge for Packards.

So, um, and I really love the early American cars.

So I couldn't do both.

So my son drove the car on the lawn.

I couldn't do dog patrol this year.

Okay.

And then I had to make it to the judges.

Boring breakfast.

Wait, I want to hear about both of those cars.

First, I've heard the Packard 12 cylinder motor was a model that Enzo Ferrari loved.

Is that true?

What's what's the story with Packards?

You know, if you asked Phil Hill or anyone who knows about cars, they would tell you

that Packard in the 20s and 30s, you know, had even before that.

But really became, you know, the Rolls Royce in the United States.

Um, it wasn't the fanciest car.

You could buy a Pierce or a locomobile or others that were fancier.

But for the high end mainstream, you know, dual cowl, uh, Fayton Packard 12 cylinder

or twin six is about as nice of a car.

And they're completely silent.

I mean, you turn it on, they're even quieter than my K Lincoln.

They were very tasteful cars.

They were understated.

They're advertising.

The slogan was slightly out of touch today, but ask the man who owns one kind of

said it all.

Um, and they were really the gold standard in our country.

Um, the Packard plant in downtown Detroit was, you know, the place to work.

If you were a factory worker, like my grandfather, he worked a four, but

he would love to get Packard.

It's no surprise because Packard took so much pride in the 12 cylinder engine.

They, they had no need to come out with a 16 like Cadillac.

They thought that was too heavy.

And, um, and it's no surprise that they became the, the licensee for the

Merlin engine in World War two and made all the engines for the P 51s because

they were so good at manufacturing, uh, and quality.

It was a great company.

They, you know, they didn't survive much after that, but when they were on

their game, they were the best in the world.

And you said you're a technical judge today.

So what does that entail?

What are you looking for?

What do you have in mind?

Oh, it's a good question.

Um, we have basically a small point range for elegance.

And that's where there's a lot of negotiation.

It goes into that because everyone's definition is different.

But you know, the, the most important thing is we're, we're not going to

give you points off or let's say, you know, you have a great

piece of paint here or there.

It's not what people think.

It's like that hose clamp is wrong.

That's, that sticker is actually not put on the right way.

We're not looking to get people, you know, points off.

We're looking to, is that executed, that car executed in the intent

of the manufacturer's intention, especially the engineering stuff.

Like does stuff work as it's spilt to work?

The vacuum, you know, wipers, uh, they can work really well.

They don't work really well sometimes.

And a lot of the owners don't really care as long as they work, but for

judges, we're looking for the manufacturer's intent when they made the vehicle.

And a lot of people get it wrong.

And there's a lot of people who spend a lot of money on these fancy restorations.

They actually don't know about the cars.

They don't know what it should do and not do.

Um, and Packard had a lot of good reasons to do what they did when they braided

a fuel line or when they, when they didn't, you know, they had

good engineering reasons for it.

So we're looking for technical compliance to the manufacturer's intent, not

to ding people for like a sticker, being there or not.

But is, you know, is it, is it there to warn the customer, do not touch this?

And we're looking for, especially the custom body vehicles, are they elegant

or are they cumbersome?

Could be a really expensive car that actually isn't very elegant.

Uh, there are a lot of those.

So we look for both elegance.

The genesis of this was, of course, the Pebble Beach races.

And then not so modern idea.

The women would pick the most elegant car on Sunday.

So the guys would race really wealthy people would race on Saturday.

And eventually they moved out to Laguna Seca because it was so dangerous

to race in the forest.

And, and this concourse was an elegance.

Yes.

Um, and you picked the most elegant car.

You know, that's actually a great history that has never been

strung together to me.

That was the genesis of this whole week.

Yes, it was.

It was always a week years ago or so.

And Phil Hill was the first person to win the roadways.

And then he happened to win in his aunt's car.

One, he restored it, uh, won the concourse the same weekend, same next day.

And he went to be in the first American world champion.

So yeah, uh, this weekend is great.

I worked in a car restoration shop.

In fact, Hills, uh, Hill and Vaughn, Phil's place.

I put myself through graduate school.

I'm an interior guy.

So I sew frogs, buffalo hide, all sorts of crazy stuff.

I put myself through graduate school and I was a mechanic.

And I came up here after we'd worked on the cars for three or four years.

We weren't allowed in the show, you'd have enough money to be in the show,

but we would drive the cars on the lawn, you know, before there was

dawn patrol and all the mechanics who worked on the cars, we would

look at each other's work and we'd say, Hey, you did a great job of

that delage.

What is that?

You know, and I got my PhD in the car business as a mechanic here.

And my wife was that how many years I was in 1985.

So you've been coming for a long, yes.

And for more than 20 years, I camped at the Monterey campground with my wife.

That is very authentic.

I'm a complete dirt bag.

Yeah.

I do happen to be in CO4 too.

That's like my other part of my life, but the real Jim Farley is an

interior guy who frog, frog.

Yeah.

It takes a lot of frogs to do it.

That's a lot of hides.

Wow.

That's so Jim, Jim, tell us about your Lincoln.

Yeah, I was just going to say that.

You know, I always wanted to, um, I'm a kind of reverse commuter.

You know, I love cobras and I love Porsches.

And, you know, my first car I restored was that when my own

money was a 356 Porsche in the, in the late seventies.

And I, it's a little known fact.

Yeah.

I rebuilt the car in my apartment in Manhattan Beach and I did a, an

outlaw car before there was such a thing.

It was all aluminum deck lid.

And, you know, I, I, I did a lot to the car myself.

And then I moved up to cobras and GT 40s.

I really only like race cars or cars that on the street were

intended to be race cars, so to speak.

And then maybe 20 years ago, I started to get more intrigued by older cars.

First, they're pre-1900 cars, steam and electric.

And, you know, in 1910, the industry was a third, a third, a third, a third, a

third steam, a third electric and a third combustion.

And is it true the electrics were marketed toward women?

Oh, yes.

Because they were clean, quiet, easier to operate.

Easy to operate.

Didn't have to do any starting.

It was much, and actually it was better technology all around.

Just the batteries weren't advanced.

I began to look at race cars from pre-war.

I bought a four and a half liter Bentley.

It was just normally aspirated Bentley, but I really love those cars.

They won them all first four years and, you know, they, they were

incredible cars and we won them all four times at four or two.

And, you know, they made their brand and kind of the GT 40 made our

brand in a way.

And so I was looking for an early car, but I'm very, I'm a stickler.

Um, I like original cars.

So my, like my Bronco, my 72 Bronco, I bought off a Montana farmer.

And, and I, I looked for 20 years to get a car and I've been looking at, I've

been after this car for way before I came to Ford.

It's a 12 cylinder, um, La Baron vinyl topped coupe, which is very

unusual for these big cars to be a small coupe.

And I love coupe design.

I have a lots of Eurelia that I want to bless the class here, best class here.

And I like coupe design.

I don't like open cars other than the Bentley because I think it's

more of a beautiful design and that designers intent.

So I was looking for this car for a long time.

It took me more than 20 years to finally, there's only five

that were ever built.

And it's a first year that Pierce, Pierce had the copyright for

the, um, integrating their headlamp into the fender.

And this was novel at the time.

Yes, it was huge and it expired in 36.

So the Lincoln's at 37, I think we're more beautiful because

they have the integrated headlamp into the fender.

It was also at Sephora to his father, Henry, he was trying to

convince his father, you know, dad, I, I know this Model T made the company,

but we got to get serious about design.

There's this thing going called choice, bigger engines of four

cylinder engines and cars are more than just utility.

And so he was trying to convince his father.

He eventually convinced Henry Lillian to get rid of Lincoln.

It was part of General Motors.

And, um, but for seven or eight years, he didn't have any resources

to create his own Lincoln.

So then this Lincoln K, the 12 cylinder Lincoln, so the first

that's a Ford, Lincoln's, they were all built as chassis.

They were sent to bodybuilders.

You, like a yacht, you would pick the body and they're

very few coupes.

That's why I love this car and it's great to drive.

You know, it's a great kind of technology statement as an American.

I'm really proud of that car and that's why I bought it.

I'm always looking at these old cars too, Jim.

And I wonder why I guess it's just not profitable to make something

like that these days, like something with a rumble seat or suicide doors or

like an open wheel, like the Bentley, like nobody makes anything

like that stuff anymore.

For less than, you know, a million dollars because they're not safe.

Yeah, I guess, you know, everyone always asked me, Hey, Jim, why don't

you just make like an, an old 65 Mustang is such an honest design.

But you know, we could, we couldn't make a car like that.

It would never pass crash tests and never, it's a shame, but that's

kind of how it is.

We kind of can't learn things like fuel efficiency or dynamics, safety,

you know, how a car crashes itself and offset crash.

We can't unlearn those things.

So it's hard and people didn't know about those things back then.

But I think there's a lot, you know, like humans are humans, you know,

we don't really change.

So when I get in my Lincoln and I turn that key and it starts

and it goes, whoa, I can't even hear it start.

I think you're like, well, that's what an electric car is.

You can poo poo in, but the NVH, you know, when we came out

to LS 400 when I was at Lexus, you know, if, if there was an

EV available, uh, yeah, we would have, that first Lexus definitely

would have been a EV.

It's quick, as fast as good torque at low RPM or zero RPM and it's quiet.

And, um, and that's, that's a human condition.

People wanted that in 1937 and they still want it.

And now you can get in a 25 or $30,000 Ford with our new affordable platform.

I'm not trying to sell forwards.

I'm just saying technology changes, but the human, the humans still

want the same thing.

They want fun to drive.

They want, for me, as a personal car, I want to cause gauging.

I, I want to feel everything.

I want the steering field to tell me everything about what's going on.

I'm interested in mastery.

A lot of people aren't interested in mastery.

They just want to get from point A to point B and they want quiet and

they want good acceleration.

Not because it feels fun, like me, they want to get around a car really

safely.

So for them, I think, I think there's not much difference actually.

But we're both, we're both.

No difference between a 12 cylinder Lincoln and a Model S plaid to me.

There's no difference.

That's a shocking statement though, because it's a 12 cylinder Lincoln that,

you know, I'm sure, and I know you're getting a ton of emotional

reactions when you drive that.

People get so excited because it's tangible and it's experiential.

And, and you're saying that's the same as a plaid.

Yeah, for sure.

Say more about that.

I'm really curious.

I mean, that's a pretty strong statement.

In 1937, most people would drive in Model T's.

You know, you get in that K Lincoln, it was a spaceship.

It went faster than anyone could ever imagine going in a car.

It was quiet.

It was like as quiet as this room right now.

And people were marveled at something other than the silver ghost.

It was nothing that quiet or a Packard twin six.

It was effortless performance at all this torque.

So when you pulled away from a stop sign, the Model T would be making

all this noise and a lot of drama, a lot of drama.

And then you got pedals and everything.

It's like, yeah, that's so much torque you can do in a second gear.

You could drive up to 50 miles an hour in second gear and not even

know you made a mistake.

It was the greatest technology of the day.

My car had a radio with an antenna hidden underneath the running boards.

I mean, cars didn't even have antennas, let alone hiding them.

Yeah, it was a, it was a spaceship.

Just like the first time I drove a plaid, I was like, holy.

Not a car for me personally, but there are a lot of people who were

marveled at the plaid when it came out.

And 37 Lincoln was no different.

The only difference maybe is that it looks pretty cool.

Can I ask, when you're like, when you're out on the field

walking around, what are you thinking about the status and state of the

American automotive industry now compared to, we're talking about

Packard's, we're talking about Lincoln's.

What's going on in your head when you compare the two?

I don't really think much.

Hey, what will Pebble Beach be like in, you know, 2075 or something?

I think more about not much new has ever been invented.

It's about 1915 in our industry.

What's old is new again.

No, it's just everyone thinks things are new.

They're actually not new.

When I look around, you know, there's just not a lot of new thinking

because people really, in the beginning of our industry, they took a

lot more risk, you know, look at the genesis of the 9-11 where it

came from his humble beginnings until, you know, the 993 and 98, you

know, it was just an incredible evolution, but it was the same

concept of a vehicle and it was so honest and it was so unusual.

No one other than Porsche would ever think to put that car that and

design it that way.

No one and all our cars because of Arrow and safety, they all

looked the same.

They all are so generic and I think, you know, why do we have

to be stuck in this rut of sameness?

Even though many people want a car to go from point 80 point B

and they don't particularly like what it looks like as a creator

of cars, our job is to actually change their mind and to have

them care about something and that we shouldn't feel obligated

to copy our competitors.

Our designers are world-class copiers.

So we're writes a line on a fast roof on the AMG CLS 25

years ago.

And then now Hyundai Sonatas have fast roofs, you know, and

everyone just go, Oh, this roof, then that's a roof, then

that's a roof, then that's a roof.

And like, that's not, that's not what I expect.

I don't like that to the cafeteria of our industry and

picking some Jello and some hot dogs and a couple of

slices of pizza.

No, I think our job at Ford is to think about our

customers and to surprise them like pro power on board where

you can power your house for six days, who would have

ever thought, you know, it's an F 150 best selling vehicle in

our industry, but it can power your house for six days.

You don't need a Honda generator.

You don't need a Generac generator and all the ads

I see on TV, but we always had the chance to do that.

We could have done that with a hybrid 20 years ago, but

we didn't.

And that's on us.

I walk around the show and I say to myself.

There are not a lot of new ideas.

So why aren't we more innovative?

Why can't we do more of the things I see here?

Just mix it differently and be and put more pressure on

ourselves to surprise the customer.

That's what I think about.

What we, we spoke with Maté Remak and he said, in his

view, Elon Musk has changed the auto industry more than

anyone alive.

And I bring it up because Tim Higgins or a story in

Wall Street Journal about Doug Field making this new

truck for you and kind of implied that he's going to

change the way you do production.

And obviously Henry Ford was the last person that

really changed production, right?

Maybe in, maybe until you learn, I don't know that

much about what goes on in the factory as much as

you do.

But do you think something different could be done

not just in the execution of the car for the

consumer, but in the way you build the car so

that it can actually be a great vehicle for

$30,000.

Yes.

No, I really believe our Skunk Works team, you know, my

badge didn't work there for three years and that, that

team from Formula One and Tesla, they had no prejudice

and our, our, our industry is filled with

prejudice, prejudice about how something should

be done.

And when you create a software defined vehicle, you

know, you have freedoms that we've never had,

you know, for 120 years, well, let's say 50 years

we've been putting the computer in when it's

convenient for the final assembly, which is probably

we make a car in six hours, make them every 50

seconds.

But it takes us six hours to make an F-150.

That computer goes in with about 15 minutes left.

So, so what?

But think about if you can put that computer in

after pain, after the first 45 minutes, and it

could self diagnose itself, whether every one of

those connections are correct or not, because it

knows how it should be built and it can detect

whether it's the connections are right.

You don't need any vision systems.

You don't need any training for your operators.

You don't need any of that because the line

stops if the connection is not made for anything.

So we just wasted four and a half hours of quality

risk. And one of the biggest issues you have in

quality today is connectors being seated, but not

fully seated, you know, that, that is a really

big innovation in our industry.

Well, anyone care, the customers will care.

Well, the business journalists care, they

don't even know how cars are made.

But if you knew how a car was made, you

would say, my God, like putting a computer in

the first 45 minutes is a game changer for

our industry in quality.

Another one would be, you know, the math we do

about weight, the batteries are so expensive, it

changes the math in a car.

You take an ICE engine engineer and, and we

give him an F-150 or a Maki electric car, say,

go source, go design the wiring loom.

So they go do what they've been doing for 120

years or maybe 30 years now.

And our wiring loom is a 1.6 kilometers

longer than the Model 3's.

It's also 70 pounds heavier, and that's $200

of battery. That's bad.

Like you have a prejudice that in an ICE

world, there's no penalty.

Well, the weight penalty math changes when

you go to a battery, because the weight is

so, the battery is so expensive that it's

better to spend $70 extra on a wiring

harness to save 70 pounds.

Yes.

So you save $200 on the battery.

Well, no ICE engineers think that way.

Is that how you get to profitability on some

of these a lot cheaper EVs that you're

talking about, that you're planning?

Yes.

That's no path.

When we did the Maki, there was no one

like the Apollo 13.

There was no electrical engineers measuring

the watt, you know, watt drainage from

our EV system.

Turns out we were 30 percent.

We could, we could have gotten 30 percent

more efficient on our gearboxes and

verters and motors than BYD.

And that allows our battery to be 30

percent smaller.

And that means that even though they may

have a big advantage on, you know, labor

costs in China, we can actually make a

cheaper battery than BYD because we can

out innovate them in the efficiency side

of an EV powertrain.

That's what I'm saying.

We have these prejudices about a

wiring harness and what should a wiring

harness weigh and how, how, how should

it be engineered that we need to get

rid of.

And I agree that we're in kind of a 1910

to 1920s era again.

But EVs are only for certain customers

and duty cycles for a lot of other

customers, you know, the things that

we love like manual transmissions

and, you know, the people that want

to master the joy of controlling

mechanical thing called a car.

You know, we don't want to get rid of

those things.

As a contractor, I don't pay for

materials I don't use.

So why would I pay for stuff I don't

need in my mobile plan?

That's why my biz plan from Verizon

business is so perfect.

Now I can choose exactly what I want

and I only pay for what I need.

Right now with my biz plan, get our

best price as low as $25 a line.

Visit Verizon.com slash business to

get started today.

New lines only price per month with

five plus lines includes auto pay

and paper free billing and

promotional discounts, taxes fees,

economic adjustment charge, applicable

add-ons prices in terms of supply

guarantee applies to base monthly

rate and stated discounts only

add-on prices additional offers in

March 31st, 2026.

Does this mean we can talk about

the GTD now?

For sure.

I mean, I have a million other

questions about trucks, but I love

that video that Chris Harris did

with Max for that.

And they started out with the

RS 200.

You say you like race cars

personally, Jim, and that that is

a race car that was for this

tree, right?

Weekend, you won your class.

I did.

When the CEO of Ford wins a class

though, they all think I was

cheating on my motor.

So it's kind of like

and I can't really cut anyone

off because I don't want to be

that guy because then they'll

be talking about that.

So.

How much time do you get to

spend on the track practicing

or in the simulator?

Do you spend a lot of time

getting ready?

Sleeping and racing are my only

two private things.

I do.

I don't have any other private

time. So it's my when I put

the visor down, it's my only time

of myself.

And I can think about stuff I do

as much as I can ten times a

year about as much as I

can. I like racing modern

cars. So GT4,

Mustang, Race Del Amal,

whether challenge car.

I saw you.

So you guys are there.

That was fun.

I tend to be a contrarian.

I feel like the super car

market is completely over

served that there's so many

choices that really don't matter

that no one will care that people

are just buying these cars to

invest as if it's a stock or

something.

As an old school car

person, you know, who's an

enthusiast, I'm more

excited about what we're working

on off road than I am on

road.

And I'm really proud of the GTD

because it's it's a it's a

Mustang.

We didn't try to turn it into

something else.

And I always I

always admired the GT3

R ads and GT2 RS,

but they're almost too extreme

for the road.

If you really wanted to use them,

yeah, need to go to a track

really.

And I thought that,

wow, what what if we could do a

Mustang that was still

kind of based on the $30,000

manual Mustang that

we sell to people

like me when I was a kid

and do something that, you

know, be a top 10 car

at the Nuremberg ring.

But do it as an American

company.

What I mean by that is not

change the concept of Mustang.

It still is a V8

supercharged.

Yes, we have a transaction.

Yes, we have push rod rear

suspension and all that stuff.

But it's unapologetically

a Mustang.

It's not trying to be anything

else.

It's just trying to be the

best version of a Mustang.

I think we're starting to get

there. We're starting to find

our own voice

as a brand with

with our direction for

Mustang. Can I ask about the

pricing of the GTD?

Sure. Obviously, it's an expensive

vehicle.

Are you getting pushed back from

customers who are saying, this

is more than I want to spend on a

Mustang?

You know, no.

OK. No, I think what we think

about more than even the prices,

how do we make just the right

level so that if someone

invests in this, they

they feel like they're

not going to lose value.

I think we've learned enough about

doing it. Well, so first of all,

I worked at Toyota for many years.

Toyota could not sell

a Corolla at $340,000

for it's a weird brand.

Like we have no problem selling

5,000 Raptor RS

at $120,000.

We have no problem selling our GTD

at that price.

We also have no problem selling a

$30,000 affordable

electric vehicle.

Yeah, it's a weird brand that way.

Everyone's like, yeah, because we

have motorsports history.

That gives us permission to do

things that other brands don't who

don't have that commitment

to enthusiast products for

50 years, 60 years.

And so to me,

no, we don't get pushed back.

I think what we get pushed back is

why are you only building 300

year and we're building

300 year because we want

there always to be a next one

and they're not going to be a next

one if you build a thousand a

year because there's not big enough

market and we want

the people who invest in.

We also don't want posers.

So we have an application process.

If you're a person who wants a

GTD and you're going to keep it in

your car collection, we are not going

to sell you one. Now you've done this

before. Yes.

And it must have been successful.

Yes, because we kind of

yes, we interview people and we're

like, are you going to bring into

local car shows?

Now, are you going to flip it after

two years? I don't want flippers.

You know, that's not I don't want

investors, stock investors

buying our cars.

So and we limit the number.

We kind of know enough after 120

years, you know, let's not

screw the people that bought these

expensive cars.

Not not to make it an investment,

but just because it gives us the

right to do another one.

If we do this one right and

everyone goes, you know what, I didn't

lose money on that and I love driving

the car.

And you know, then maybe I'll buy

a second one and we could keep

doing it.

And I think that adds value.

But when I'm more interested,

there is no Porsche off-road.

And I'm shocked that people

don't think about that.

And I'm very interested in that.

The on-road performance hierarchy

is very simple to see.

And the very top is over-served,

in my opinion.

But no one's ever done this off-road

supercar.

Lamborghini may be a bit different.

Like a Mustang Raptor or a Bronco

R or.

Are you shaking his head?

For people listening, he's shaking

his head.

Let's see how long it would last

on the Baja 500 course.

Let's see how much.

Like a challenge within the first

curtain.

No, I'm talking about like a

Dakar type of concept.

Like a 911 Dakar.

No, no, no, no, no.

Like a supercar.

A thousand horsepower, partially

electric, totally digitally

enabled. You bring your phone, you

get the max for stopping settings

or you have everything is just

with suspension travel, the damping,

the right height.

And it's fully capable

of doing a full-on race.

It's not a pickup truck.

I think that is the right

way for Ford to innovate

the supercar business.

People really love the Raptor

because it's so compliant

of the suspension.

And they do like how big it looks

and it's intimidating.

But what they really shocked is

when they drive on a long

distance travel, they are

shocked at how comfortable it is.

It's it's like the most comfortable

Lincoln they've ever driven.

Because to go fast off road, you

have to have really soft

suspension.

A trophy truck is one of the most

comfortable race cars you'll ever

be in.

But no one's ever built

a supercar for

gravel, high

speed sand,

dirt, not rock crawling.

I'm not talking about that kind

of thing. Not King of the Hammer.

No, no.

But some parts of King of the

Hammer, yes.

And I think that would be

a great direction for our

company.

We can always do another fancy

supercar.

But I think I'm challenging my

team to think a little

differently.

Like a Group B kind of thing?

Group B, but maybe for

four people or two.

I don't know yet.

This is my idea.

I'm talking to the team about it.

Yeah, I am the CEO and I tend

to know about the changing

market. But I bet you

in total revenue for

enthusiast products for

outsells Porsche right now.

If you look at our Raptors and

our Broncos and our Tremors,

I bet you our revenue is very

close and maybe our margin is

too.

But no one really respect to

the off road and the off road

racing world is and WRC

is so narrow and so

kind of underserved from a

media standpoint.

People really understand the

tech that goes into these

vehicles.

And yet everyone wants one.

And yet the Europeans have no

yeah, the Porsche has a long

tradition from the

9 59 on.

But none of the other companies

really do in performance

off road.

No one's ever built a vehicle

dedicated.

And that's why I want to win

the car.

Would it only be for 300

examples, Jim?

Or would you is that what you're

saying? Like the next 300

example car that Ford builds

could be an off road super car?

I'm thinking about it.

That's all I'm saying.

And I think you really deeply

about it. And usually that turns

into something.

That's all I could say.

To be honest, a lot of my

friends are in that ecosystem

of the supercars and I'm

nauseated by the

sameness of it all.

Yeah. And super

small differentiation between

this car and that car.

And I think it's high time

that American company

be a little irreverent

and do something that go left

one other go right.

Not to just go left because

there's a market.

These these raptor

people are telling us something.

They are not stupid.

They are really smart people.

They spend a hundred twenty

thousand dollars on a 800

horsepower pickup truck.

And they're saying to us, I've

never raced off road.

But I love driving

this vehicle.

And I I don't

care if it's dirt

or sand

or tarmac.

I love it equally.

You can't say that about an

on-road supercar.

And today I'm just saying

that for me, you know, GTD

is fantastic because it's

who we are.

And if you take that idea

even further, that the reason

why we race at Pike Peak.

Yes. Love it.

I did. I did want to ask

about the super van at four

point two since you mentioned

Pike Peak, but I'll let it go.

And Ramon DuMas was here.

He's like my personal hero.

And yeah, I introduced

some of my closest friend, Wayne

Rainey, last night.

And we were talking about bikes

the whole time.

And yeah, I love Pikes Peak.

It's a unique American race.

The Europeans have always come

here and and enjoyed the race

as much as Americans.

But, you know, it's

it's very important spiritually

for Ford because it combines

our on-road and off-road.

And we tried to do with

electric, but do it our

own way with a pickup and a van

unlike Volkswagen's attempt,

which was kind of a global

attempt. We did as an American

company.

But I think there's more there.

And if there's one thing, if you

ask me, Jim, you know, your

car person running this company,

what is the most exciting racing

that you're looking for, too?

I would say I want to win the

car way more than Formula One.

Wow.

Cars is the most exciting thing

happening.

And, you know, right now,

Americans don't care much about

it, you know, but they should.

You have no orientation.

You have to you have to you

have no idea what's over that

next tune as a driver.

You have you have to you have

to have the skill of orienteering.

You have to know where you go.

It's a two week race.

It's exhausting.

If you break something, you got

to fix it yourself.

It's an amazing.

There's no no race

like it.

And you ask any drivers done to

car and all the great ones want

to, they will all say the same

thing. There's the hardest thing

I've ever done.

And I want for to win that race.

And I want not only that, I want

us to build a vehicle so

that all people could experience

what it's like to have the joy

of driving no matter what is in

front of you.

And right now, that's not the

case.

I love it.

That reminds me of the glory

days of peeking to Paris, some of

these old rally from, you

know, 70 years ago.

Yes.

That's it.

Yes.

And who knows what's around the

next corner?

And what what are you going to

find?

Yeah.

That's that to me is part of

being an American company.

That's why people love the

Mustang because it's freedom.

It's a road trip unscheduled.

You're going to meet someone

who never knew, you know,

well, that off road thing is

similar.

And again, it's an underserved

market.

No one's ever given it the

respect it deserves.

Just a narrow like ice racing

or WRC or Baja, but no one's

really democratized it.

The performance part of it.

I think that's what's exciting

to me at Ford.

It brings our pro business

and our enthusiast brand.

But we but something we haven't

done.

I think that's why everyone

loved the Olig Bronco because

it was something that people

didn't expect before.

A big wing on a Bronco.

Well, there's a modern version

too, but it won't look like an

Olig Bronco.

Love it.

I can't wait.

We're excited for the future,

Jen.

Thank you.

Just unbelievable passion,

right?

I mean, just.

I know.

He is someone who you can just

really talk to.

I admit, sometimes I think

I wish can he just if he

says something funny, I'll feel

like it's Chris Farley because

you know their cousins.

Yes, yes.

And they have the same

gestures.

They do.

They're very similar.

So I'm sitting on the couch

excited because he's talking

about off-roading and all this

and going after Porsche and all

these great things.

And then I'm like, this is

Chris Farley's cousin, which

is also fun.

I would honestly have loved to

see them together and I've

heard I've listened to Jim

talk about his relationship with

Chris and the amount of time

they spent together.

And I love to think about that

because Jim is pretty serious.

He's pretty laser focused

on automotive, right?

And he wants to run the

business and be

competitive.

He's very competitive.

That's right.

He's incredibly.

I think that's a better word.

Serious kind of implies maybe

he doesn't have a sense of humor.

He doesn't have fun.

My feeling about Jim Farley is

he wants to have all the fun

and you know what's really fun

winning.

Yes.

That's what's really fun.

For sure.

But I love to hear stories

about him hanging out with

Chris who must have been in

a different way also competitive,

right?

Because he wanted to make you

laugh.

I love to hear the Farley family

stories.

And I listened to Jim's podcast.

It's really great.

And it kind of opens the door

into those personal moments.

And that's really the best part

about it.

Because you want, like we're

want to know what people are

like, right?

So the personal things are

more interesting than just

the profits and losses and

you know, lap times and

horse power figures.

So very, very, very cool.

Which is so great.

He's not somebody who just talks

from bullet points.

He hasn't been overly media

trained.

You know, you get the sense

when you talk with him.

He is a present individual who

was having a conversation with

you.

And that is a nice thing.

All right.

Well, listen, I hope you guys

have a fantastic drive back.

Yeah.

Thank you.

No tickets.

I'm very happy to report.

I stopped counting at 15 police

cars on the way from Los

Angeles to Carmel, California,

a four hour drive.

I stopped counting at 15.

No tickets.

Knock on wood.

I think we're going to drive

back tomorrow.

But I do want to say for

everybody who came up and said

something about listening to

us on the podcast, thank you

so much for listening.

It really means a lot to hear

from you guys and just

thanks for saying hi.

And it's really nice to talk

to some of you, all 12 of

our listeners.

This is Bloomberg.

Thank you.

Ford CEO Jim Farley on Potential $300,000 Off-Road Supercar

About this episode

Porsche A356 Porsche

Ford GT40

Lincoln Own Lincoln

Ford Mustang

Tesla Model S

Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost

Ford Model T

Porsche 911

Hyundai Sonata

Ford F150

Golf Gtd

RS200

Toyota Corolla

F-150 Raptor

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from Bloomberg Hot Pursuit!