Ford President and CEO Jim Farley introduces the Lincoln L100 concept car
Before his current role as President and Chief Operating Officer of Ford Motor Company, Jim Farley served as General Manager of Lexus, Chairman and CEO of Ford Europe, and Ford’s Executive Vice President and president of Global Markets. But Jim Farley is more than a collection of impressive automotive titles. He’s a genuine car guy that has owned, and raced, everything from a 1964 Ford Shelby Cobra to a 1978 Lola T298 to a 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302.
His interest in automobiles was ignited by seeing a prototype, 275 GTB-powered Ferrari Dino in Luigi Chinetti’s Ferrari distributor in Greenwich, Connecticut. He now runs one of the oldest and largest automotive companies on the planet, and he’s leading it during the most disruptive period in the history of the industry. We spoke to Jim about the history of Lincoln, the future of luxury, navigating this period of massive upheaval, and what it means to run the company his grandfather worked for as Ford employee 389 on the Model T assembly line in 1914.