European Vacation: Jim Farley Hits the Road in E-Transit

Just as European Vacation was the sequel to National Lampoon’s original Vacation film, so Ford CEO Jim Farley reprised his 2023 Route 66 road trip in an electric F-150 Lightning with a trip to the Continent to drive the company’s E-Transit commercial van.

Farley brought followers along for the ride, posting his experiences on the trip to X/Twitter as he went. The aim of the trip was immersion in the E-Transit world that is populated by customers, dealers, and the upfitters who customize plain E-Transits into work vehicles for specific industries.

The five-day drive through Germany, Austria, and Italy also put him into contract with Ford’s European employees, providing them a chance to bend the boss’s ear about the issues of concern there.

“The team is a long way from [Ford headquarters in] Dearborn, here in Cologne, and I can learn about the things that frustrate them, so I can go back and break down barriers for them,” Farley said in a video posted to X/Twitter.

Customers provided him unvarnished commentary on the E-Transit, which Farley said he appreciated. “Our customers here use their vehicles differently. So, the front hinge has been an issue for them. I learned a lot of things about, technically, what kind of changes we can make to the Transit to make it higher quality and to be differentiated from our competitors.”

“It is really interesting here, when a customer tells you how they see your company relative to other companies,” Farley continued. “And there’s no filter from my team! It is just like, “Here’s where we think you are; you’re really good but you’re not the best yet.”

After experiencing European charging stations and visiting with E-Transit fleet operators, Farley reflected on his trip. “I was encouraged by the product acceptance, but we have a lot more work to do on the services. So I have a long list of to-dos that I’ll be working with the team on.”

That doesn’t sound like as much fun as arriving at Wallyworld.