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According to the latest data, Ford Motor, the second largest automaker in the United States, currently has a market capitalization of 100.66 billion US dollars, surpassing General Motors, Daimler and other car companies one after another, after Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen and BYD. It is understood that on Thursday, Ford shares rose 5.7 per cent to $25.87 in intraday trading, with a market capitalization of more than $100 billion for the first time in its nearly 120-year history, but then gave up some of its gains to close up 2.25 per cent at $25.02. the market capitalization fell to $99.99 billion. On Friday, Ford shares rose 0.68% to close at $25.19, with a total market capitalization of $100.66 billion.

The rise in Ford's share price has something to do with CEO Jim Farley's new strategy for the company. Before Jim Farley became Ford's CEO, Ford's share price had fallen 40% since Hankite became Ford's CEO in May 2017, falling to its lowest level in nearly a decade, and Ford's performance in the global market was not optimistic during his tenure. According to the data, Ford's total revenue in 2019 was $155.9 billion and its net profit was $47 million; in 2020, Ford's total revenue was $127.1 billion and a net loss of $1.3 billion; of course, Ford's heavy net profit loss in 2020 has something to do with the global epidemic.

On October 1, 2020, Ford announced that Jim Farley would succeed Han Kate as the company's new president and CEO. Han Kate, who has led the transformation of the company since 2017, plans to retire from the company. According to the data, Jim Farley joined Ford in November 2007, initially served as president of global marketing, and was in charge of the Lincoln brand and Ford's operations in South America, Europe and Ford's global markets. Jim Farley became the leader of Ford Motor Company's emerging business, technology and strategy team in April 2019. In February 2020, Jim Farley became Ford's chief operating officer, reporting to Hankette, the company's president and CEO.

After taking office, Jim Farley accelerated Ford's electric transformation, promising to increase electric vehicle production to 600000 within two years, and eventually surpass Tesla in electric vehicle sales in the United States. Jim Farley launched a "Ford plus" restructuring plan to revamp Ford's management team. At the same time, he put more resources into the R & D and manufacture of electric vehicles, which improved Ford's profitability and attracted the attention and favor of investors.

As part of its "Ford+" transformation plan, Ford launched its all-electric pickup Fmur150 Lightning in May 2021, which is likely to go on sale this spring. It is understood that the FMI 150 Lightning has received nearly 200000 bookings, far exceeding Ford's expectations. In order to meet consumer demand for pickups, Ford adjusted its initial proposed annual production capacity of Fmuri 150 Lightning from 70, 000 to 80, 000 vehicles to 150000 vehicles, doubling its annual production capacity. At the same time, Ford plans to increase production of the Mustang Mach-E to more than 200000 by 2023. Or Ford's drastic transformation to electrification, which directly stimulates Ford's share price to break through the market capitalization of hundreds of billions.

Since Jim Farley took the helm in October 2020, Ford's share price has risen 228.37%, with Ford's share price rising 136.29% in 2021, surpassing Tesla, which rose 49.76% in 2021, according to public data. However, in terms of total market capitalization, Ford is far inferior to Tesla. Tesla currently has a total market capitalization of US $1.054 trillion, while Ford has a market capitalization of US $100.4 billion.

Electrification has become the development goal of many automobile companies, and these companies will also show their edge in the market in the future. Take Toyota as an example. On December 14, 2021, Akio Toyoda unveiled a strategy presentation for battery electric vehicles with 15 new electric vehicles and announced a 10-year-long electric vehicle plan. Toyota plans to spend $35 billion to develop electric cars, and Toyota is expected to launch 30 pure electric vehicles worldwide by 2030, with the ultimate goal of selling 3.5 million vehicles worldwide by 2030, Toyota president Akio Toyoda said. In addition, its luxury brand Lexus will become a pure electric brand in Europe, North America and China by 2030, and Lexus will only sell electric cars by 2035. Affected by the electrified transformation plan, Toyota shares also hit an all-time high, rising to a peak of $213.7 from $176.1 on Dec. 13, with a total market capitalization of $291.82 billion, a level never seen since Toyota went public.

In addition, including Volkswagen, BMW, Honda, Volvo and so on have announced the electrified transformation strategy. Earlier, Volkswagen announced a new plan for electrification transformation, which will invest 89 billion euros ($101 billion) in research and development such as electric vehicles and digital in the next five years, which will account for 56% of the group's total investment. it is also one of Volkswagen's transformation plans. Volkswagen said it would "replace Tesla as the leader of the electric vehicle industry by 2025".

For 2022, Ford expects that changes in the external environment, outbreaks and chip shortages will still have a certain impact on business development, but the carmaker said it is still firmly promoting the landing of its "Ford+" plan in the Chinese market, accelerating the transformation of its "Ford China 2.0" business, and further promoting the full landing of its electrification strategy. Data show that Ford sold 624802 vehicles in China in 2021, an increase of 3.7 percent over the same period last year, of which 237646 Ford-branded passenger cars were delivered in the whole year, basically the same as in the same period in 2020.

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