Paul is pretty sure he puts more thought into his outfit every morning than Jim Farley does. That's about where the comparison ends, though. On Wednesday's show, we dug into what Farley and GM's Mark Reuss told the Automotive News Congress, and both leaders made the same case: stay the course, even when the ground keeps moving.
What did Ford and GM each say?
Ford: Jim Farley | GM: Mark Reuss | |
|---|---|---|
The focus | Making quality gains stick | Not "whipsawing" on EVs |
The proof | Top mass-market brand in J.D. Power's 2026 Initial Quality Study | Still investing in EVs after $11 billion in EV-related charges this year |
The next move | The $30,000 Fathom pickup in 2027, on Ford's new Universal EV platform | New V8 and diesel engines for the Silverado and Sierra |
The honest admission | "We haven't landed the plane on mass production of UEV yet." | "All we know is that a year from now, it'll be different." |
Farley said he's watched Ford "fall in and out of love with quality four times." This time, he credits new people, a lean culture, and "a complete obsession with the details." Ford's dynamometers now run around the clock, stress-testing every current and planned powertrain. And when Ford expected BYD to hold a 20% cost advantage on the Fathom's battery, the team rebuilt its gearboxes, inverters, and motors so the truck could use a smaller battery.
Reuss put GM's approach bluntly: "Whipsawing on technology and propulsion and regulatory administrations is not the game you want to play. It burns capital."
Can a three-year plan survive an 18-month world?
That's the question Kyle keeps coming back to. Chinese automakers are running 18- to 24-month development cycles, while legacy automakers still work on three- to four-year timelines. When the gap between idea and execution runs longer than customer demand takes to change, no amount of market savvy can close it. As Kyle put it, we used to talk about 2030 all the time, and 2030 is now too far out to plan around when it comes to technology.
Paul added the other half of the problem. US automakers face more regulatory whiplash than most global competitors, since policy can swing with each new administration. Fuel economy targets went out to 50 mpg, and now they're back to about 35.
He also offered some perspective. From the outside, it's easy to say what these companies should have done. Running a manufacturing giant through that much change might be one of the hardest jobs in the industry.
For dealers, the lesson travels well: commit to what your customers need, and build a store that can adjust when the plan changes.
