The Rock and Ford CEO, Jim Farley, hang out
Jim Farley was on a EV road trip when he met with Dwayne Johnson
Ford CEO Jim Farley weighs in on the electric vs. gas vehicle debate
Ford CEO Jim Farley joined 'Barron's Roundtable' to discuss the debate on electric vs. gas cars, the auto company's growth and approach to the auto industry, and reacts to Warren Buffett's comments on investing in the industry.
The CEO of Ford Motor Company hung out with actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson at a dealership in Southern California last week.
CEO Jim Farley posted Monday about meeting with the actor on social media, remarking, "You never know who you’ll run into on the road…"
The pair got together at the Galpin Ford dealership in the Los Angeles area, where Johnson was picking up a new Raptor R truck, according to a post on X, the Elon Musk-owned social media site previously called Twitter.
The meeting happened while Farley traveled through Los Angeles as part of a road trip the Ford CEO had embarked on for three days in an F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck.
FORD CUTS PRICES ON F-150 LIGHTNING TRUCK
Farley and Johnson interacted with workers at Galpin Ford during the stop, videos and photos posted by the Ford CEO showed.
US actor Dwayne Johnson attends the "Black Adam" photocall at NH Collection Madrid Eurobuilding hotel on October 19, 2022 in Madrid, Spain. (Pablo Cuadra/WireImage / Getty Images)
"Great meeting @TheRock and talking about his love of @Ford," the CEO also wrote on X.
Ford CEO Jim Farley pats a Ford F-150 Lightning truck before announcing at a press conference that Ford Motor Company will be partnering with the world's largest battery company, a China-based company called Contemporary Amperex Technology, to create (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Farley’s road trip in the F-150 Lightning to learn more about the EV experience followed a route from Palo Alto, California, to Las Vegas, Nevada. He said in a LinkedIn post ahead of time that he and others at Ford would "see researchers, businesses, dealers, salespeople, EV conversion shops, EV drivers and communities."
FORD ANNOUNCES F-150 PRODUCTION RESTART
Ford Motor Co
At the beginning of the month, Ford said it had completed its six-week project to boost the manufacturing capacity of its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, allowing production of its F-150 Lightnings to start back up. Beginning in the fall, the Dearborn, Michigan, facility will have the ability to produce 150,000 electric pickups annually.
A sign sits outside of Ford's Chicago Assembly Plant on May 20, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois. On Tuesday, one day after reopening the assembly plant, Ford temporarily shut down the facility after two employees tested positive for the coronavirus COVID-1 (Scott Olson/Getty Images / Getty Images)
The company also recently released its July sales figures, with sales of its electric vehicle models coming in at 6,280, its hybrid vehicles hitting 11,447 and its internal combustion options reaching 155,912.
FORD SALES CLIMB IN JULY, EVS STRUGGLE TO GAIN TRACTION
For electric vehicle sales in July, they experienced a roughly 18% drop year-over-year, while its hybrid and internal combustion vehicle sales went up 31.6% and 5.7%, respectively. On a year-to-date basis, Ford has seen its sales rise 4.4% for EVs, 9.4% for hybrids and 9.5% for internal combustion, according to the company.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F | FORD MOTOR CO. | 12.15 | -0.02 | -0.16% |
As part of its EV efforts, Ford revealed in May it would add accessibility to Tesla’s Supercharger network for its EV customers.
Joe Toppe contributed to this report.