FARLEY’S FOLLY BY THE NUMBERS.

Editor's Note: This week, The Autoextremist speaks the High-Octane Truth about the appalling (and ongoing) recalls at Ford. In On The Table, we preview the latest hypercar, this one from Ferrari - the limited-production, mid-engine Ferrari F80. And our AE Song of the Week is ""Smoke From A Distant Fire" by the Sanford-Townsend Band. In Fumes, we bring back Peter's account of his brother Tony's meteoric racing career and the inside story of the famed Owens/Corning Corvette Racing Team in the riveting series "The Glory Days." And in The Line, we have INDYCAR results from the Iowa Speedway, MotoGP from Germany and IMSA from the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. We're on it! -WG

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

 

Detroit. There are plenty of eye-popping numbers roiling the Biz this week. There are the threatened 35 percent tariffs against Canada, just because it has the temerity to exist, apparently. If you’re looking for any rhyme or reason beyond that you’d be sorely disappointed. We are under the Regime of Whim and Capriciousness, after all.

Then there was the announcement that Volvo Cars was slashing 15 percent of its U.S. salaried workforce, because this just in: the outlook is really bad for the foreseeable future. Oh, and just in case you missed it, EV registrations were down 5.9 percent in May from a year earlier, which marks a second consecutive monthly decline, despite manufacturer discounts and tax incentives.

But, by far the most startling number to surface this week – as reported by Reuters - was the announcement that Ford was recalling 850,318 vehicles in the U.S. due to a potential low-pressure fuel pump failure, which could cause an engine stall, according to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (A faulty fuel pump can reduce fuel flow from the tank to the engine, causing an engine stall and increasing the risk of a crash, NHTSA said, and failures are more likely when fuel levels are low or in hot weather, it added.)

Even though no injuries or accidents were reported, this was Ford’s 89th U.S. recall so far in 2025, which, according to NHTSA is the most of any automaker, and by a giant margin too. How giant? Stellantis – which is not known for its manufacturing discipline when it comes to recalls - is a distant second with 18 recalls.

How wide-ranging is this recall? The vehicles involved in the recall are: 2021-2023 Ford Bronco; 2022 Expedition; 2021-2023 Explorer; 2021-2022 F-150; 2021-2023 F-350 SD, F-450 SD and F-550 SD; 2021-2022 Mustang; 2021-2023 Lincoln Aviator; and the 2021-2022 Lincoln Navigator. Ford said it is still developing a remedy.

 

Now, it’s no secret that when Jim “I’m a genius, just ask me” Farley assumed the reins at Ford, he claimed that fixing the automaker’s manufacturing processes, execution and quality – and ending the constant onslaught of costly recalls that was crippling the company – would be his highest priority.

 

And what has transpired since Farley was appointed CEO in August of 2020? Ford has recorded the highest number of recalls in the industry each and every year since.

 

Now, I’m sure Farley’s apologists in Dearborn will be quick to point out that he had plenty of distractions along the way. There was Covid, which isn’t really an excuse since everyone in the industry – and we, the people – had to deal with that. In other words, there was nothing he could do about that.

 

And then there was the massive pivot to electric vehicles, with the Ford CEO leading the charge touting a “new look” for the Dearborn automaker, which would now be re-positioned as a tech company first and foremost, and an industry leader. This became Farley’s raison d’etre, and he became an EVangelist overnight. Ford would be pumping out EV F-150s and Mach-Es at a furious rate, and it would all be good.

 

Until it wasn’t.

 

F-150 EV pickups are dead in the water, as the entire EV pickup thing became a pipedream. It seems that the fundamental pickup capabilities that customers demand are decidedly missing in action with EV pickups; in other words, they don’t work when it comes to doing work. Who knew?

 

But that was a mere bump in the road for Farley, as his latest obsession is studying the Chinese EV automakers and gleaning as much knowledge as possible from the acknowledged global leaders in that discipline. That’s all well and good, but meanwhile, Ford still can’t manufacturer vehicles here in the U.S. without generating costly recalls at every turn. And it’s absolutely killing the company’s bottom line.

 

Ford’s Chief PR Minion, Mark Truby – one of the best in the business, by the way – has done a masterful job in transforming Farley’s image from being a sullen, Unctuous Prick, who parachutes-in and helicopters-out, a malicious dictator who runs over people, leaving chaos in his wake at every turn, to a switched-on “man of the people” who cares about everybody and cares deeply about Ford and his place in it. As if. As I said, Truby has done a masterful job in fabricating a squeaky-clean image and orchestrating the "smarm" offensive for Farley, but the Farley presented on the talk shows, podcasts and at industry symposiums simply isn’t that guy.

 

Others may be fooled by Farley’s “transformation,” but I’m not. In fact, I never have been and never will be. Which brings me back to the numbers. Ford’s recall record under Farley is simply inexcusable. He can throw suppliers under the bus all he wants – which he is now doing with full effect – but to me he’s still the CEO whistling past the graveyard, while laying down distractions – “I have seen the EV Future and it’s in China!” –in order to keep people – especially Bill Ford – from focusing on the fact that he has been an abject failure when it comes to manufacturing top quality products that don’t need to be brought back to be fixed. Which is, come to think of it, the simple essence of this business.

 

In case you’re wondering, there’s only one guy who can fix this situation, and he has repeatedly demonstrated an unwillingness to deal with Farley’s Folly. Will this charade continue indefinitely? Probably, or at least as long as ICE F-150s continue to prop-up company profits.

 

Should that start to waver, all bets are off.

 

And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG