Ford CEO Admits R&D Lags 25 Years Behind BYD

[Company Update] Ford CEO Jim Farley has publicly acknowledged that the company's current R&D system is 25 years behind the industry standard and fundamentally incapable of competing with BYD.

Core Development: Jim Farley admits Ford cannot produce competitively priced EVs

Doug Field, Ford's current head of EVs and former chief engineer at Tesla, assessed that Ford lags significantly behind in component release systems, IT infrastructure, and CAD design tools, making it difficult to compete with BYD.

Key Metrics: Battery cost gap stands at 30%; U.S. EV sales are only one-tenth of China's

BYD’s vertically integrated battery supply chain enables substantially lower costs compared to Ford’s approach of sourcing cells from CATL. Farley stated that only through energy efficiency innovations—reducing total vehicle battery capacity by 30%—could Ford potentially close the gap.

Strategic Foundation: Comprehensive teardown of Chinese models to rebuild benchmarking logic

Ford has already air-freighted multiple Chinese-made EVs to its U.S. headquarters for detailed teardown analysis, mandating the entire organization to recognize the leadership of Chinese NEV manufacturers in supply chain management, R&D processes, and cost control.