USAFord CEO Jim Farley says the company’s quality benchmark today is set outside the United States. In recent remarks, Farley named plants in Mexico and China as Ford’s standard for manufacturing quality, pointing to workers there following production processes more consistently and identifying and fixing problems directly on the line.
Hermosillo as the example
Farley pointed to Ford’s Hermosillo plant in Mexico, which builds the Maverick and Bronco Sport, as one example of the gap. He attributed the difference not just to equipment or technology but to workplace culture at plants in different countries.
US plants closing the gap
Farley also credited Ford’s American plants with real progress, singling out UAW-staffed facilities for improvement over the past four years. The results have started to show: Ford ranked first among mass-market brands in J.D. Power’s 2026 initial quality study, with the F-150, Mustang, and Super Duty each winning their segments.
The picture Farley describes is a company still leaning on its plants abroad as the internal standard, even as its US-built vehicles close the gap in independent quality rankings.
