Respect. That’s the only word that Ford CEO Jim Farley tweeted in response to Elon Musk’s tweet, in which he trolled rival US automakers, on Thursday.
“Tesla & Ford are the only American carmakers not to have gone bankrupt out of 1000’s of car startups. Prototypes are easy, production is hard & being cash flow positive is excruciating,”
In this tweet, Musk acknowledges that Chrysler and General Motors, two of the leading car manufacturers, had gone bankrupt during the Great Recession, a decade ago. For Ford, surviving in those critical times is a point of pride.
Farley’s one-word response on Friday has taken Twitter by storm. Many people liked, retweeted, and shared his response.
Elon Musk has 48.5 million Twitter followers, meanwhile, Jim Farley has 27,200 only.
Both Ford and Tesla are engaged in stiff competition to win over customers for their respective electric vehicles. Tesla has long dominated the EV market, with market capitalization surpassing that of Toyota and Volkswagen.
Melissa Bradley, a business professor at Georgetown University has claimed that the interaction on Twitter demonstrates that business can be competitive yet respectful. It’s interesting to see how social media has become a means of communication between businesses and that messages can be conveyed in under 140 characters, she added.
Last month, Ford sold 3,739 Mach-E SUVs, while in March, up till now, the company has managed to sell 3,977 units.
Tesla, founded in 2003, has ruled the electric vehicle with their super-fast models like Model S, Model 3, Model X, and Model Y. Enthusiasts refer to the product line as SEXY. In 2020, Tesla delivered 499,550 vehicles.
Adam Jonas, an analyst at Morgan Stanley released his report on Tuesday. According to the report, Tela’s share of the electric vehicle market decreased significantly to 69% vs. 81% in the previous year.
Michelle Krebs, an executive analyst for autotrader.com has claimed that a recent tweet from Musk meant that Ford is on top of his mind, and it is giving Tesla a good run for the money.
