'Ford Racing Can't Be A Advertising Division:' Ford's CEO On The Enterprise Of Efficiency

There’s an outdated saying within the motorsports world: “The easiest way to make a small fortune in racing is to start out with a big one.” 

That is true for each small privateer groups and large world automakers. Even when the fervour for racing is what will get lots of people within the auto business away from bed each morning, the monetary returns on motorsports investments are sometimes exhausting to quantify past obscure features in “model consciousness.”

However at Ford Racing’s large debut on the Detroit Auto Present this week, Ford’s CEO Jim Farley made clear that its newest strikes intention a lot greater than being a branding train. 

“Ford Racing cannot be a advertising division anymore,” Farley informed Motor1 in an interview on Thursday. “Our concept for Ford Racing is that they really engineer street autos. They’re going to engineer our next-generation supercars, the brand new Mustang SC.” 

Whereas the 2026 Detroit Auto Present was a sleepier affair than it has been in a long time previous, Ford used the occasion as a form of coming-out celebration for its largest performance-focused initiatives in 2026 and past. That included the debut of the brand new, supercharged Ford Mustang Darkish Horse SC, the performance-focused Ford Bronco RTR, its new technical partnership with Purple Bull Racing for System 1, the most recent on its in-house WEC effort, and extra. 

However Farley, himself an avid racer who has competed each on and off the pavement, stated the final word objective for Ford is to make its client automobiles higher—and that goes deeper than sticker and badge packages. 

“Ford Racing used to only go racing,” Farley stated. “They by no means had the switch perform again into the corporate like Porsche did or Ferrari did with their racing effort. It is a large change for Ford.” 

The 2 European motorsports giants got here up often in our dialog. Farley reiterated that he desires Ford to be seen as “the Porsche of off-road,” synonymous with competing and successful when the pavement ends. “In contrast to Jeep, with its navy [heritage], or the Defender for industrial use in Africa, our genuine off-road credibility comes from racing,” Farley stated. “The opposite instance is the Vary Rover. We actually see off-road work use as one other method to construct credibility.” 

Vans and SUVs are already large enterprise for Ford—arguably, the enterprise. However even because the maker of America’s best-selling car, the F-150, the competitors is heating up. 

‘Our concept for Ford Racing is that they really engineer street autos. They’re going to engineer our next-generation supercars.’

The American auto business, and more and more the European one, has tilted closely towards SUVs and vehicles in recent times. Many automakers have posted robust gross sales features by emphasizing bigger, extra off-road-focused SUVs, with specialised trims and choice packages rising as main revenue drivers.

Consider it this fashion: in the event you’re already shopping for a Mercedes G-Class or a Land Rover Defender, why not pull the set off on essentially the most rugged, specialised, trail-ready one you will get? Based on one evaluation, all the off-road car market is predicted to be a $21 billion enterprise by 2033. 

Ford is seeing the advantages of that shift proper now. Based on the automaker’s fourth-quarter earnings report, off-road efficiency trims—the Raptor, Tremor, Timberline, FX4, and so forth—accounted for practically 21 p.c of US gross sales final yr. Gross sales of off-road efficiency trims rose practically 18 p.c final yr, totaling over 450,000 autos bought. 

In different phrases, individuals purchase these items. And Farley stated he sees Ford—which has moved away from sedans and smaller autos in america to primarily concentrate on SUVs and vehicles—doubling down on racing to make these autos stand out. And the playbook has labored earlier than, Farley stated.

“The [F-150] Raptor itself was impressed by Baja racing,” he stated. “I funded that 15 years in the past out of my advertising division, to go race in Baja after which flip that right into a manufacturing car.” At this time, it is exhausting to think about Ford’s efficiency lineup with out the high-performance Raptor truck, which has since grow to be a therapy for the Bronco SUV and the smaller Ranger. 

That gross sales success might give Ford some wanted reduction from the regulatory whiplash and altering client tastes which have hit reset on all the American auto business. 

Farley reiterated that he desires Ford to be seen as ‘the Porsche of off-road.’

In December, Ford introduced $19.5 billion in losses to retool its total electrical car program, together with cancelling the groundbreaking F-150 Lightning amid slower gross sales and persistent unprofitability. Although the Michigan-based automaker builds practically all of its US fashions domestically, it nonetheless incurred about $1 billion in new tariff prices. And not underneath the gun to impress rapidly now that the Trump administration dialed again gas economic system guidelines, Ford has some freedom to lean extra on worthwhile gas-powered autos—at the very least, for now.

Farley himself has warned of the hazards of getting to compete with China’s automakers within the EV area, each globally and probably at residence. Lengthy-term, Ford is hanging its electrical hopes on the upcoming Common EV Platform, beginning with a $30,000 truck meant to compete with China’s finest on manufacturing prices and income. 

For now, making higher automobiles by means of racing efforts might give Ford the monetary edge it wants. That goes past off-road racing as properly, he stated. “Racing, grassroots racing, promoting race automobiles like Porsche has completed for a very long time—that is large enterprise,” Farley stated.

“We now have a [Mustang] GT4 and GT3 that we truly construct for purchasers. We construct race automobiles for our prospects. Once I go to the racetrack now, at Sebring or Daytona or Spa or Le Mans, I am assembly with our prospects who purchase our race automobiles. They purchase crash elements, and so they purchase engines, they purchase all kinds of issues. And that is a separate enterprise as properly,” he stated.

However much more essential, he stated, is making higher and higher street automobiles, just like the Mustang GTD. “Crucial a part of this complete factor is translating, on the off-road facet and the on-road facet, the racing know-how and placing it into our core product—placing it into our ‘hero merchandise’.” 

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– The Motor1.com Crew