Ford plans to manufacture a vehicle every 50 seconds in the future, according to CEO Jim Farley. The rapid production of vehicles ties in with Ford’s plans to use Gigacasting when forming the bodies of its upcoming vehicles.
In an interview with Top Gear, Farley spent time acknowledging the difficulties caused by competition from Chinese companies like BYD. The CEO described his exposure to the company’s in-car technology as “humbling” and highlighted the pressure caused by the Chinese firm’s “aggressive” pricing models and government subsidies.
Farley plans to counter Chinese automakers in two ways. The first involves reducing vehicle costs so Ford can compete on pricing. Then there’s the prestige side of things, the CEO hopes that product appeal and brand aspiration will win out when buyers are comparing a Ford to a similarly priced and specced Chinese alternative.
There is a lot of work to do, particularly on the EV front. Ford’s EV sales have been plummeting in recent years, hence the company’s recent pivots. Its “heavy transport” vehicles are embracing the hybrid powertrain, and the company’s EV aspirations have had a total rethink.
Rather than focusing on “premium” EVs, like the Ford F-150 Lightning, Ford is moving to “low cost, high volume” vehicles. This shift requires a pretty big uptick in production, from 100,000 to 300,000 units per year, focused on the markets that most appeal to customers.
Can Ford build a car in less than a minute?
So can Ford assemble a car in less than a minute? Of course not, that would be preposterous. But Farley may be speaking the truth when it comes to raw production numbers. If a production line is big enough, a factory could have a fully assembled car rolling off the line once every 50 seconds. Said car obviously spent plenty of time working its way down the line, but each step could be brief enough to create a constant churn of new motors.
Ford’s plans to use Gigacasting and other cutting edge methods also helps with Farley’s aspirations. The production method allows for the creation of large components that take the place of tens, or even hundreds of pieces that would otherwise have had to be assembled. So workers are basically bolting three parts together instead of three hundred.
There is a downside to all of this. These large parts are very difficult or sometimes impossible to replace. A fender bender may mean swapping out the entire front end of your vehicle. Any frame damage could see the car written off by insurance.
But on the upside it is fast, and it is cheap. So Ford may be able to deliver on its promises of affordable trucks and SUVs going forward. With that being said, new vehicle sales are declining at the moment. So popping out a vehicle every minute may not the best idea. The outcome could be less “Field of Dreams” and more “Field full of unsold 2027 vehicles we can’t seem to shift.”
