Ford CEO is Worrying about EV Price Cuts

Ford CEO Jim Farley said on Wednesday that the price war in the electric vehicle market was "a worrying trend". Earlier, Ford lowered the prices of the Mustang Mach-E in response to a series of price cuts by rival Tesla.

On Tuesday, Ford announced an 8% price cut on its Mustang Mach-E electric vehicle, the second price cut the automaker has announced this year.

Farley compared the current price cuts in the EV market to that of Ford founder Henry Ford. When Henry Ford first began using assembly lines on his assembly lines in 1913, he began to reduce the price of Model T to boost sales.

Farley said the tactics used by the company's founders ultimately put Ford at risk.

"The resale value for people who bought at higher prices is awful. They never forget."

On Monday, Tesla raised the car prices in several markets. However, after several price cuts this year, the purchase cost of Tesla cars has been significantly lower than that at the beginning of the year. The price reduction has strongly dissatisfied those Tesla owners who bought vehicles early, triggering a large-scale rights protection.

Challenge Tesla

Farley also said that Ford would follow in Tesla's footsteps and cut prices on models such as the Mustang Mach-E to compete head-on with Tesla's Model Y.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk praised Ford's electric vehicle strategy.

"Always tough with margins for new vehicle lines, especially when there are major technology shifts," Musk tweeted earlier. "I think Ford's overall strategy with EVs is smart. The electric F-150 (Lightning) has high demand."

Farley also said Ford has no plans to ditch Apple's CarPlay software, which allows customers to mirror their smartphone screens onto the car's dashboard, while GM recently said it would phase out CarPlay in future models.

Besides, Ford chose to build a new electric vehicle manufacturing centre near Memphis, Tennessee, in part because of the region's abundance of clean electric energy from hydroelectric and nuclear facilities.