One of Ford’s lead executives has some harsh words for Tesla regarding the California-based startups quality issues. During an interview with automotive news outlet, Autoblog, the head of Ford’s electrification efforts. Darren Palmer, didn’t hold back when speaking about the compromises EV owners are forced to deal with when purchasing from certain automakers.
Darren Palmer is one of the original members of Ford’s Edison team that was in charge of designing the brand’s first all-electric vehicle. He is now the head of development for Ford and Lincoln’s battery-electric vehicle. Although Palmer didn’t mention any automakers by name in the interview, it was pretty apparent which electric vehicles manufacturer he was talking about.
The Autoblog interview touched on the launch of the Mustang Mach-E where Palmer promised buyers they will not have to compromise or accept any flaws: “The doors fit properly, the plastics and other materials color-match, the bumpers don’t fall off, the roof doesn’t come off when you wash it, the door handles don’t get stuck in cold weather. …”
Several of the issues noted by Palmer have been reported by Tesla owners who have experienced similar or the same problems. The most recent issue Tesla is facing as far as design defect or flaw, is reports of Tesla owners walking up to their locked car in frigid temperatures to find that their charging cables were not locked in place. Some owners who have fallen victim to stolen charging cables are looking to the California-based automaker for answers, however Tesla has yet to comment on the recent string of theft.