On June 19th, it was reported by Reuters that Bill Ford, the executive chairman of Ford Motor Company, stated that the United States is not yet ready to compete with China in electric vehicle production.
“They are developing very quickly, and they are producing on a large scale, and now they are exporting,” Ford said on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” Sunday program. “They haven’t come here yet, but we think they will come here sooner or later, and we need to be prepared, and we are preparing.”
In February of this year, Ford announced plans to invest $3.5 billion in building an electric vehicle battery factory in Michigan, which will use technology from Chinese battery company CATL. This deal has drawn the attention of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, who has called for the Biden administration to review the transaction.
Bill Ford, the great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, said in the program that the battery factory in Michigan is an opportunity for Ford engineers to learn the technology and use it themselves.
“This is a factory that belongs entirely to Ford. They will be our employees, and all we do is license the technology to them,” he said.
Ford CEO Jim Farley said in May that Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers are the main competitors in the field, and Ford needs a unique brand or lower costs to beat Chinese automakers. “I think we see the Chinese as our main competition, not General Motors or Toyota, the Chinese will be a formidable force.” He said.
