Jim Farley in his Ford F-150 Lightning/PHOTO: Jim Farley via LinkedIn
Ford Chairman/CEO Jim Farley has reportedly bailed on a planned hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which motivated Chairman Ted Cruz (pictured above) to postpone the session. According to Politico:
“Well, for whatever reason, it appears Jim Farley was terrified of testifying before Congress,” Cruz told POLITICO in an interview.
Cruz popped off on Farley, whose reluctance to appear delayed what was set to be a marquee hearing with the leaders of the Big Three Detroit automakers and a top engineer at Tesla.
Cruz also bashed Farley on a since-scrapped plan by the automaker that would have let dealers continue to offer the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit on leases, even after the benefit expired.
“I don’t know if he was scared about having lost $19 billion for Ford shareholders on the misguided Ford Lightning or if he was embarrassed at having tried to swindle American taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of dollars by gaming the expiration of the EV tax credit,” Cruz said. “But for whatever reason, he made the decision that testifying to Congress was too terrifying for him to be willing to do so.”
Oof. We recently made a similar point and wondered why Farley still has a job. His excuse for opting out of the hearing was an alleged scheduling conflict with the Detroit Auto Show, but fellow auto industry chiefs — like Chair/CEO Mary Barra of General Motors and CEO Antonio Filosa of Stellantis (puh-leeze change the name back to Chrysler!) — said they would attend if the others did. But Politico had earlier reported that Farley complained Tesla CEO Elon Musk wasn’t asked to participate in the hearing, with a lower-level executive invited instead:
Cruz said he decided not to invite Elon Musk to avoid a slugfest between the former DOGE head and Democrats on the panel, arguing it would detract from the focus of auto affordability.
“Because if Elon is a witness at a hearing, the Democrats will turn it into a circus,” Cruz said in December.
Ford CEO Jim Farley, center, speaking at White House standing next to President Trump/IMAGE: YouTube
Farley didn’t have any problem showing up at the White House last month for a photo op with President Trump, in which he engaged in revisionist history by complaining about past administrations’ strict Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, when in fact he was one of its biggest cheerleaders, leading to the EV fiasco. No one present in the Oval Office, whether media or political types, were a threat to call Farley out. Clearly a Senate hearing room is outside his safety zone.
