It hasn’t gone unnoticed that Tesla, the electric car and energy company founded by Elon Musk, has been on a tear recently. At least its stock price has. Despite shipping only 76,000 cars and losing $674 million in 2016, the market is confident Tesla has a path towards profitability and mass production. That confidence means Tesla’s market capitalization has surpassed that of America’s two largest car manufacturers by revenue, profits, and sales volume: Ford Motor Co. and General Motors.
Ford President and CEO Mark Fields is undeterred by the Silicon Valley upstart’s challenge to the establishment.
One the eve of the New York International Auto Show, Fortune sat down with Fields to get his reaction to Tesla’s stock price surge; President Donald Trump’s economic plans and if they are influencing the way Ford conducts business; and how he is encouraged by the recent summit President Trump held with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
