Ford CEO Faces Another Catastrophe

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) CEO Jim Farley spends part of his week talking to people on his DRIVE podcast. He spends some of the rest of the time dealing with how to fix Ford’s abysmal quality problems, which have driven warranty expenses that have cost America’s number two car company hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Senior management has developed a habit of saying they will do better when they address investors on quarterly earnings calls.

Ford announced a staggering recall of 1.1 million vehicles for problems with rearview camera software. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the issue could cause images from the cameras to delay or freeze.

Almost every significant media outlet in America covered the recall. CNBC reported:

The recall covers some 2021 through 2024 model year Bronco, F-150, Edge, and 2023-2024 Escape, Corsair, F-250, F-350, F-450, F-550 and F-600 vehicles, the automaker said Wednesday in a filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The recall also impacts the 2022-2024 Expedition, 2022-2025 Transit, 2021-2023 Mach-E, Lincoln Nautilus, 2024 Ranger, Mustang and the 2022-2024 Navigator.

The news was particularly vexing for Ford because the F-150 is the best-selling vehicle in America. After several quarters that raised deep concerns among investors, Farley said some of the problems could have been detected when the models were launched. He said the company would revamp its quality management to catch these.

These quality issues have been reported in news story after news story, and repeatedly when Ford management is interviewed. Ford says it cares about the issue, but there is scant evidence that the caring has accomplished much.

Ford already has enough trouble. Its failed effort to gain a large share of the electric vehicle (EV) market in the United States has cost the company tens of billions of dollars. Its U.S. EV market share was 7.5% last year. It has offered tremendous incentives, particularly to jump-start sales of its F-150 Lightning and Mach-E. These two vehicles are the tip of the spear as Ford moves to distance itself from GM, Hyundai, and Kia, as well as other legacy car companies that are making considerable investments to gain EV sales in the U.S.

In the past year, Ford’s stock is down 13% while the market is 11% higher. Farley needs to spend more time on the job.

Ford Stock Price Prediction and Forecast 2025-2030

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