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Executive Chair Bill Ford and his daughter, Alexandra Ford English, a member of the Ford Board of Directors, shared a candid look at the guiding values and the road ahead for Ford Motor Company at a special event marking the 50th anniversary of the Economic Club of Grand Rapids.
The father-daughter duo discussed the advantages of being a family-led company and how Ford plans to win in today’s rapidly evolving world.
The discussion opened with a conversation about what makes Ford different from its competitors. Bill Ford noted that while a company’s culture can and often does shift with leadership, its values must remain permanent.
“Values should be timeless,” he said, pointing to Ford being named America’s #1 Most Iconic Company by Time Magazine as recognition of those tenets. “We take care of each other. We take care of the communities in which we operate, and we take care of our country.”
Bill Ford said being a family company “allows us to look longer term.”
“I don’t feel like I’m working for the next quarter, the next year, or even the next five years, but I’m always looking down the road,” he said.
Ford English said each generation has a mission to leave the company stronger than they found it.
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“We’re deeply committed to winning in the future,” she said, adding that partnerships, both existing and new, will be very important. “There will be so much capital required and so many different skills required for the different powertrains, different local regulations around the globe, the geopolitics and the tariffs, not to mention the significant investment that we all have to make in software and technology.”
Ford English also spoke about the role her brothers play at the company: Will Ford is general manager of Ford Racing, and Nick Ford is director of Corporate Strategy.
“All of us work with partners today,” she said. “My brother Nick's role is taking things that Ford is already good at and building something new around them, and we see that as enhancing our core vehicle business to make it less cyclical, stronger, and more built for the future. Will partners very closely with Formula One and all our race teams. So, it’s not surprising to me that the best partnerships throughout Ford’s history have been family business to family business.”
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Looking toward the future, Ford English outlined three interconnected priorities: preparing to compete and win against Chinese automakers; maintaining vehicle affordability; and advancing technology.
She said Chinese automakers are highly competitive, making low-cost, high-tech vehicles.
“The rate of change and the pace of technology have increased so much in our industry that it’s set a new benchmark for us,” she said. "The best thing Ford can do is make our vehicles more affordable. In the U.S., we have an exciting lineup of new vehicles that Americans will hopefully love and be able to afford across a range of powertrains.”
Ford English also highlighted the importance of cutting-edge technology in our vehicles.
“That’s just the state of play. For the customers, this could be autonomy or software experiences in and around the vehicle,” she explained. “It’s also critical to deploy AI and robotics in ways that the customer doesn’t see, and we’re doing this.”
Ford English emphasized that the company must change how it operates. She pointed to the “Skunk Works” model, which uses small, empowered teams to solve massive challenges, as a key part of Ford’s strategy for developing affordable vehicles.
“We need to give lots of responsibility to small groups to handle big problems,” she said.
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As the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, Bill Ford and his daughter reflected on the company’s enduring role as a cornerstone of the American landscape.
Ford English said that while "reindustrialization" has become a modern buzzword, Ford’s commitment to domestic production has never wavered.
“We never left. We are the largest auto manufacturer in the country,” she said, emphasizing that Ford cannot stop investing in the future.
Bill Ford said the company his great-grandfather founded 123 years ago remains “the most American car company,” because it leads the industry in domestic employment, production, and exports.
“It costs us per vehicle, but it’s well worth it because it’s the right thing to do for our country, and it’s the right thing to do for our company and our employees,” he said.
While he expressed pride in the company’s 123-year history, he cautioned that it “guarantees us nothing going forward.”
“It’s much more important that we look forward, and the way to do that is to shed all your arrogance and say, ‘Okay, what can we learn? What do we have to learn? And who can we learn from?’ he said. “For us to be around another 123 years, we have to be a learning company.”
