Ford CEO Ready for a Years-Long Quality Improvement Initiative
Ford has had an incredibly busy past few years. The automaker has announced a new Mustang variant and released its first electric pickup truck in the F-150 Lightning. That type of execution takes coordination and planning, and any slipups can lead to significant quality control issues, and Ford CEO Jim Farley has his finger directly on the pulse of the problem.
Farley has been beating the quality drum for most of this year and recently told a group of retired engineering executives at a recent event that fixing quality is his number-one priority. He acknowledged that declining quality didn’t happen overnight and said fixing the problem would take several years.
Consumer Reports dropped the Ford Bronco Sport and Mustang Mach-E from its recommended vehicles list over quality problems, and the automaker continues to struggle with reliability issues for the Explorer and Lincoln Aviator. Some Ford vehicles bucked the trend, as the Maverick, Escape Hybrid, Lincoln Nautilus, and Lincoln Corsair clawed their way onto the recommended list.
Like many major automakers, Ford is diving head-first into electrification, and The Blue Oval is expanding its manufacturing presence deeper into Tennessee and deeper into Kentucky. Demand for the F-150 Lightning and Maverick remains intense, and Ford is still working through order backlogs for both vehicles.
[Image: Ford]
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Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.
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I guess Job 1, fell down the list.
All first editions should be sold as Beta I models. I fail to see how profits can be turned with recalls. There used to be proving grounds, have they been turned into parking lots for short “ chipped” vehicles?
All I know is that the F-150 Lighting has has Horrible Reviews from owners, as seen on the multitude of YouTube videos. Pitiful mileage in towing and cold weather.
Wish Putin would recall EB Flex