“They no longer define a car”

What do we value from a car? And what have we stopped assessing? Those are, without a doubt, two of the great questions in which the automobile industry is involved. An industry that was based on benefits and differential engineering but that seems to wonder what really defines it at the moment.

And Ford has an answer, at least, to the second question.

“They don’t define them”. The words are by John Lawler, vice president of Ford, and have been collected by Automotive News. “Before, the combustion engine defined what a vehicle was: the power, the displacement, the motor torque and everything else. I think that much of that has disappeared,” Lawlyer insisted.

And, for the Vice President of Ford, the market no longer values ​​the specific characteristics of the combustion engine that a company can offer. “I don’t think consumers really think of motorizations as they did 30 years ago,” he emphasizes.

That others do. The solution, says the vice president of Ford, is that in the face of a loss of interest on the part of the consumer, the smartest thing is to increase the subcontracting of this industry and, therefore, delegate in other companies the development of mechanics.

In Motorpasion They collect that Lawlyer’s forecasts suggest that saving money in engines’ development involves dedicating more economic resources to other areas of the vehicle. A change of strategy that is essential to face the great rival that Western companies have in front of them: China.

The true rival. “We have to be competitive with them not only in the speed of development, the software capacity, the electrical architecture, but also in the global electrification capacity”, of which Lawlyer speaks is from the Chinese industry, a speech that is not surprising coming from Ford.

Jim Farley himself, CEO of the company, said a few months ago that Chinese cars were a “Existential threat” For Western companies. Nothing new under the sun. What was more surprising is that A Xiaomi Su7 will be brought under the arm And I wouldn’t want to get rid of him.

What do we value? Farley said of the Xiaomi Su7 that it was “A fantastic car”. And I did not say it only because of the car itself, I also said it because of the ability of the car to be part of an ecosystem, of a whole that goes far beyond the car and that attracts customers for simply, to be part of a more complete family of products.

That connection with the rest of our digital framework is something that Chinese cars are prioritizing what, each time we give more value. Tesla has built its brand image and this article of Insideevs It made us clear where Chinese cars are and everything they offer, turning the car into a kind of interactive center with wheels.

“For years, the West was the goal. The mirror where Chinese brands were looked at. The standard that had to be achieved. Today, that mirror is broken.” During the visit to the Shanghai Automobile, My partner Javier Lacort also experienced A very similar feeling that summed up with those words.

Differentiate when everything is the same. Until now, the automobile industry had played to differentiate itself in the mechanical plane. The Japanese boasted of reliability, the Americans were giant engines cars, Europeans have played both letters while leaning on more practical cars for day to day.

Today, with emission regulations, forcing to reduce displacements and increase electrification, these differences are almost completely blurred. The associations between the companies point to an extreme standardization and there is only room to differentiate through the software.

Finding, again, what attracts the public is the great challenge. And, there, it seems that China has the front by combining electrification, new experiences and low prices.

Photo | Ford

In Xataka | Ford has burned 2,000 million dollars and believes to be clear about the reason: “China has been in the electric car for ten years”