Tesla CEO Elon Musk gave a tremendous nod to Ford while also acknowledging his own influence on EVs and the automotive industry in general.
Yesterday, Ford announced its new manufacturing process for EVs, which was essentially a rebirth of its own production lines and plans for more affordable models to offer consumers.
It was important to recognize that Ford truly launched automotive manufacturing with its production of the Model T 122 years ago.
That’s exactly what Musk did in a response to Ford CEO Jim Farley:
In the over 100 years since Ford started producing vehicles, the company has had one significant fact go under the radar: it truly created a great process for building large, complex vehicles. It is something that many companies eventually adopted as the car industry took off.
Tesla is in a similar situation. It has used things like the Giga Press from the Italian company IDRA to create a better, more efficient, streamlined process for building cars.
It was able to use casting to eliminate a vast majority of parts from the Model Y, which not only helped increase manufacturing efficiency but also improved safety and structural rigidity. It truly revolutionized manufacturing for the company, and Ford said that it would adopt a similar mindset with its new EVs.
Yesterday, Doug Field, the Chief EV, Digital and Design Officer for Ford, and a former Sr. VP of Engineering for Tesla, said the company was taking the mentality that “the best part is no part.”
Musk acknowledged how far it has come and how it is influencing other car companies to do the same in terms of its production strategy:
Ford is using an “Assembly Tree,” which is essentially very similar to Tesla’s “unboxed production process.” In addition to the use of Gigacasting, which Ford is calling “Unicasting,” as well as the use of structural batteries, it is almost as if Tesla is having its own “Model T moment.”
Ford has been quick to adopt an EV mentality as it plans to transition its business over the next decades. It is working to prepare for the future of the atuomotive industry, and although it has adjusted its strategy, it can’t be denied that Ford is one of the legacy automakers taking this new chapter in cars seriously.
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