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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
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Thank you.
About this episode
Ford CEO Jim Farley shares his passion for cars and insights on the automotive industry during a conversation at Monterey Car Week. He discusses his love for classic vehicles, particularly his Lincoln K, and reflects on the legacy of Packard. Farley also reveals his vision for an off-road supercar that stays true to the Mustang brand while pushing the boundaries of innovation. The episode highlights his commitment to creating vehicles that resonate with enthusiasts and the importance of maintaining a unique identity in a crowded market.
Ford President and CEO Jim Farley joins to show to talk about his company and the potential Ford could develop a high-end supercar for off-road racing in the $300,000 price range.