Ford CEO Jim Farley on EVs, cutting costs and other ‘surprises’

DETROIT — “A lot of surprises.” That’s how Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley described his past five years leading the Detroit automaker, which he believes now has a solid foundation.

For Farley, who marks his fifth anniversary as CEO on Wednesday, there have been industry-wide problems to deal with, as well as Ford-specific issues that the company is still in the process of navigating.

The 63-year-old CEO has been working to make Ford more capital efficient, improve quality to reduce recall and warranty costs, and grow profit margins. That’s on top of industry-wide concerns about changing regulations, including tariffs, and shifting dynamics in electric and autonomous vehicle strategies.  

“I think there were certainly a lot of surprises,” Farley told CNBC on the sidelines of a Ford event Wednesday in Detroit. “I would say what I’m most proud of is the team I built, together with [Ford Chair Bill Ford], as well as the foundation.”

Farley said it’s still going to “take more work,” but the company has a good base after years of restructuring to perform better than it has under his tenure thus far. He’s optimistic about Ford continuing to improve the company’s overall performance and grow shareholder value.

“We need to get more capital efficient. We need to have higher margins than 4% or 5%, and we we need to be more resilient to economic cycle,” Farley said, adding some recent changes in regulations from the Trump administration may be more beneficial than Wall Street expects for Ford.

While Ford’s stock price hasn’t increased as much as General Motors, Tesla or the overall S&P 500 index over the past five years, its total shareholder return — including a historically strong dividend — has made it a better investment than many of its peers.

Ford’s total shareholder return over the past five years is roughly 134%, according to FactSet. That tops its largest global competitors other than Tesla – at 211% – over that time period.  

GM, Ford’s closest rival, has a total return of about 113% over that time period — in line with the S&P 500, according to Factset. U.S.-listed shares of Toyota Motor, meanwhile, had a cumulative total return of 61%, while Honda Motor shares had a total return of 51%.

On a per share basis, Ford stock closed Tuesday at $11.96 per share, up roughly 80% since Farley became CEO on Oct. 1, 2020. That compares with Tesla, up 211% to nearly $445; GM increasing 106% to roughly $61; and the overall S&P 500 index with a 99% increase since then.

Farley has managed to woo Wall Street more than his two most recent predecessors — both of whom departed the company after double-digit losses in Ford’s stock price.

Farley became the head of Ford amid more than decade lows in the company’s stock price following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. He took over from CEO Jim Hackett, who was recruited by Chair Bill Ford to replace longtime executive Mark Fields.

Ford’s stock under Hackett, ex-CEO of furniture maker Steelcase, declined roughly 40% during his tenure from May 2017 through September 2020. It was slightly better under Fields’ roughly three-year tenure, when the stock declined around 35%.

The stock’s best performance in the past 25 years occurred under CEO Alan Mulally, from September 2006 through July 2014, when shares jumped roughly 178%.

Ford’s stock saw its lowest point under Farley when he took over the company in 2020. Its high during the past five years was $25.87 per share in January 2022, which occurred during the automaker’s push into electric vehicles such as the F-150 Lightning and notable upgrades.

At that time, Ford’s market value topped $100 billion for the first time ever. It’s now less than half that around $48 billion, with the stock off 54% from that high. That compares to GM’s market cap of about $58 billion.

Ford has spent billions of dollars on warranty and recall problems in recent years, setting industry-wide records for the number of recalls in 2025.

“To justify further upside for Ford it would require a multiple re-rating, which we believe may be a challenge,” Barclays analyst Dan Levy said in a…