Ford

Jim Farley relayed his experience driving the Xiaomi SU7 EV in the US for the last six months on the Everything Electric podcast recently. Ford flew one out from China so he could live with it every day. “I don’t want to give it up,” Farley said. That said, he said he’s confident that Ford is taking the threat of Chinese EVs seriously, touting the company’s “skunkworks team” in Silicon Valley that’s at work on the next-gen EV platform.

An annual subscription to BlueCruise will now cost $495, down from $800, while a monthly subscription is reduced to $49.99 from $75. Ford’s also offering a new one-time payment for BlueCruise at $2,495, or a one-year purchase of $495 — for those that are ready to fully embrace the hands-free lifestyle.

In another sign that automakers are confused about how their customers want to spend their time while confined in their vehicles, Ford released a new karaoke app for the F-150 Lightning and (eventually) the Mustang Mach-E. The process only works while the vehicle is parked, leading Ford to assume this will be a popular activity while EV charging. Me? I’ll take “wandering aimlessly through a Walmart” over this.

Predictably, the actual process to use the new app is hilariously complicated.

The driver-side door keypad was once standard on America’s best-selling vehicle. No longer, reports The Drive, as it will now become a $455 dealer option. I suppose the silver lining is that Ford isn’t trying to turn it into a subscription.

The Drive also points us to this excellent essay about the difference between “tiered permissions and variable access” which is totally worth a read in light of this news.

Ford CEO Jim Farley announced the European Commission’s approval of its hands-free BlueCruise driver-assist tech (despite an ongoing NHTSA investigation), which means Mustang Mach-E buyers in 15 EU countries can now get the feature (and some current owners can get it through a software update).

BlueCruise has been driven for more than 213 million miles globally, according to Ford — up from 200 million in June.

Ford is taking the opportunity to advertise its Pro Power Onboard generators available in some F-150 models, including gas and Lightning EV versions, after Hurricane Beryl caused major outages in the Houston area. Product communications director Mike Levine posted a map showing where F-150 trucks generated at least one kilowatt of electricity.

Correction: Corrected the spelling of Mike Levine’s name.

The automaker clearly has no qualms about slapping beloved nameplates on new vehicles (see: Mach-E, Mustang), so it shouldn’t come as a complete shock that it would bring the Capri name out of retirement for its second EU-only EV. (The first was the electric Explorer.) Also, what is this guerrilla campaign? Clearly Ford’s European marketing team has a longer leash to experiment than their stateside brethren.

The Verge alum Sean O’Kane crunched the LinkedIn data to conclude that Ford’s secretive EV skunkworks has grown to over 300 employees, with 50 coming from Rivian alone. Ford has also poached workers from Tesla, Lucid, Canoo, F1, and Apple’s recently disbanded car project. The group, led ex-Tesla engineer Alan Clarke, is tasked with designing a lineup of low-cost EVs for the Blue Oval.

Ford CEO Jim Farley touted a recent milestone: 200 million miles traveled for customers using the automaker’s hands-free driver assist system, BlueCruise. That’s enough for a roundtrip from the Earth to the Sun. Meanwhile, Tesla said its customers using Full Self-Driving have gone over 1 billion miles — or enough for a trip to Saturn. Who will be the first to reach Pluto?

Inspired by the 1967-68 Mustang, the new skin is available to 2024 Mustang owners via a free over-the-air software update — which I guess beats buying a real one for $350 on eBay.

Gone are the days when your car was a refuge from work. Ford is the latest automaker to bring Cisco’s Webex video conferencing application to its vehicles, starting with the 2024 Lincoln Nautilus, 2025 Lincoln Aviator, and 2025 Ford Explorer. More models will follow.

If you’re driving, it’s audio-only. While parked, you’ll be able to see your coworkers’ beaming faces, but they won’t be able to see yours because it’s not connected to the in-cabin camera — yet. I’m of the opinion that selfie cameras in the car are inevitable. (See: Benz, Mercedes.)