Ford President and CEO Jim Farley threw a friendly jab at Tesla CEO Elon Musk during a company presentation where he was talking about the company’s electric pickup truck F-150 Lightning. “Take that Elon Musk,” he said at the end of his talk.
Of course, this wouldn’t hide from the Tesla Community and a short video clip was posted on Twitter, where Musk responded in a similar fashion saying “Thanks, but I already have one”.
Jim most probably knew that this will catch Musk and Tesla Community’s attention and he would get some unpaid advertising and might convert some Cybertruck reservation holders to F-150 Lightning.
This is what Farley stated during his speech:
“We are really on a mission at Ford to lead an electric and digital revolution for many, not few. And I have to say the shining light for us at Ford is this beautiful Lightning made right down the road in Dearborn, right here in the state of Michigan, already the leader of all EV pickup trucks in our industry in the United States.”
Ford has just sold 4,400 F-150 Lightning electric pickup trucks year-to-date, a figure the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker released earlier this week.
Claiming a leadership position with this number is not a good idea for Ford because Rivian is also ramping up production of its R1T EV pickup truck as well. Rivian had produced 6,954 R1T pickup and R1S SUVs in the first half of 2022 but the automaker did not separately report the R1T numbers, it’s estimated that at least 5,000 R1Ts have been sold year-to-date.
Other automakers have also mocked Elon Musk and Tesla in the past but they have been unsuccessful at beating Tesla in making more EVs.
Hyundai once bought ad spaces for the Kona EV SUV and its sign boards stated “your turn, Elon”. But Tesla Model Y has been a superb success and Hyundai had to recall Kona EVs for a potential fire issue.
So, most probably Farley’s statement will not age well — as well, because the Tesla Cybertruck production is starting next year (2023) and Tesla has around 1 million pre-orders for it from around the globe.
Tesla is preparing for Cybertruck production at its Giga Texas plant and has acquired the world’s largest 9,000-ton Giga Casting machine for the purpose. The Giga Casting method will save Tesla time and resources which will ultimately speed up production that Ford and Rivian will feel.
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