Ford CEO Jim Farley says dismantling Tesla and Chinese-made EVs was a wake-up call that reshaped how the veteran automaker is taking on the electric transition. 

Speaking on the Office Hours: Business Edition podcast, Farley admitted he was “humbled” after learning how far ahead Tesla and China’s automakers were in design and efficiency. The revelation, he stated, convinced him that Ford had to rethink everything from engineering to strategy.

Teardowns and tech gaps

“I was very humbled when we took apart the first Model 3 Tesla and started to take apart the Chinese vehicles. When we took them apart, it was shocking what we found,” Farley told host Monica Langley, as noted in an Insider report. 

He noted that Ford’s Mustang Mach-E had roughly 1.6 kilometers more electrical wiring than Tesla’s sedan, making it heavier and more expensive to build.

The experience pushed Farley to launch Ford’s Model e in 2022, a dedicated EV division focused on competing with tech-driven automakers. Although Model e lost more than $5 billion in 2024 and is expected to face similar losses this year, Farley said he has no regrets. 

“I knew it was going to be brutal business-wise. My ethos is, take on the hardest problems as fast as you can and sometimes do it in public because you’ll solve them quicker that way,” he said.

Farley has led Ford since 2020, during which he’s pushed the company to adopt leaner designs, modernized software systems, and faster EV production cycles inspired by Tesla’s model.

Urgency in Ford’s global push

Farley has repeatedly warned that Chinese EV makers such as BYD now pose an “existential threat” to legacy carmakers. He described Chinese electric vehicles as “far superior” and said their expansion overseas highlights how quickly the landscape is changing. 

“We can’t walk away from EVs,” Farley said. “Not just for the US, but if we want to be a global company, I’m not going to just cede that to the Chinese.”

Still, the U.S. market remains challenging. Farley expects only about 5% of domestic car sales to be electric in the near term, as buyers demand more affordable models. To meet that shift, Ford plans a $30,000 midsize electric truck for 2027.

“We now know that the EV market in the US is totally different than we thought,” Farley stated.

@teslarati 🚨🚨 Tesla Full Self-Driving and Yap is the best driving experience #tesla #fsd #yapping ♬ I Run – HAVEN.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk hinted at when the company will resolve a major complaint with the Full Self-Driving suite. This particular issue has been persistent and a common complaint within the v14 suite.

Tesla has had its v14 FSD rollout deployed for over a month, and its earliest iterations featured a vast majority of improvements from the past versions. However, one common complaint has continued to be mentioned: stuttering and hesitancy.

Tesla Full Self-Driving’s biggest improvements from v13 to v14

Most commonly, FSD users have experienced this at intersections when the Tesla is at a complete stop. The vehicle will inch forward, contemplate proceeding, and then stutter pretty significantly before ultimately moving forward.

Tesla has worked on resolving the issue and has worked on it with subsequent rollouts, but it has only improved slightly. The company has mentioned that it is working to fix it completely, but it seems the next big Software Update to actually resolve the issue altogether will likely be 14.2.

Musk confirmed that on Wednesday:

Yes

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 12, 2025

When will v14.2 rollout? It’s likely a month or more away. Currently, Tesla is rolling out v14.1.7, which is the latest version and features some minor improvements to Hardware 4 vehicles.

These cars are currently on v14.1.4, but are not receiving v14.1.5 or v14.1.6, as both of those seemed to be internal releases to company employees.

Tesla FSD v14.1.7 incoming…. pic.twitter.com/6zuMDZRVD2

— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 12, 2025

The stuttering issue has been a main complaint of many FSD users, and it is something that is being addressed. Musk’s confirmation that the suite is likely to receive a fix for this issue with the next major FSD release is a sign of good things to come, but we’re hopeful it comes sooner rather than later.

Overall, v14 has been an excellent improvement from v13 with the addition of the additional Speed Profiles of Mad Max and Sloth, as well as new Arrival Options that give the driver an opportunity to let the car park in a suitable location upon arriving at the destination.

@teslarati 🚨🚨 Tesla Full Self-Driving and Yap is the best driving experience #tesla #fsd #yapping ♬ I Run – HAVEN.

Tesla teased its entrance into a new market with a confusing and what appeared to be cryptic message on the social media platform X.

The company has been teasing its entrance into several markets, including Africa, which would be a first, and South America, where it only operates in Chile.

In September, Tesla started creating active job postings for the Colombian market, hinting it would expand its presence in South America and launch in a new country for the first time in two years.

Tesla job postings seem to show next surprise market entry

The jobs were related to various roles, including Associate Sales Manager, Advisors in Sales and Delivery, and Service Technicians. These are all roles that would indicate Tesla is planning to launch a wide-scale effort to sell, manage, and repair vehicles in the market.

Last night, Tesla posted its latest hint, a cryptic video that seems to show the outline of Colombia, teasing its closer than ever to market entry:

pic.twitter.com/Hi8t7URy1D

— Tesla North America (@tesla_na) November 12, 2025

This would be the next expansion into a continent where it does not have much of a presence for Tesla. Currently, there are only two Supercharger locations on the entire continent, and they’re both in Chile.

Tesla will obviously need to expand upon this crucial part of the ownership experience to enable a more confident consumer base in South America as a whole. However, it is not impossible, as many other EV charging infrastructures are available, and home charging is always a suitable option for those who have access to it.

Surprisingly, Tesla seems to be more concerned about these middle-market countries as opposed to the larger markets in South America, but that could be by design.

If Tesla were to launch in Brazil initially, it may not be able to handle the uptick in demand, and infrastructure expansion could be more difficult. Brazil may be on its list in the upcoming years, but not as of right now.

@teslarati 🚨🚨 Tesla Full Self-Driving and Yap is the best driving experience #tesla #fsd #yapping ♬ I Run – HAVEN.