Ford CEO Jim Farley discusses the Lincoln brand's future and electrification from this year's Monterey Car Week.

Video Transcript

INTERVIEWER: So this is the L100 Concept. It's going to show the vision of where Lincoln goes in the future as it electrifies itself.

JIM FARLEY: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Is that the case? Is that how you see it?

JIM FARLEY: I think the biggest change in our industry isn't really electrification. It's more partial autonomy coming together with a software updatable vehicle. I mean, zero emission and going to a digital powertrain that's great. But the real change in our industry is going to be using your interior differently than what you think. Like in '07 when we first started using smartphones, it totally changed how we made a call, and you want never was the same again. It's about to happen with cars, and especially on the high end.

INTERVIEWER: So these are from the high end. With Lincoln especially, you see this as a reimagining of some like living room, where not living but more like you can use-- I was talking to your chief designer about how you arrive in Lincoln. It's getting there in style and comfort, but then also we'll be facing our past this here, right?

JIM FARLEY: Yeah. I mean, if the federal government changes the laws, the safety laws. I think what I'm excited about is that a lot of miles in cars are dead time. No matter I love cars, I love driving, but on the way to the airport or way to work, sometimes I just want to do something else. And we're in a weird category of products where we can free up 45 minutes to an hour or a person's time at a time when they're totally frantic and don't have any time. And we're seeing, especially in Asia, Lincoln China is now outselling North America handily.

A lot more Chinese customers are spending more time in their vehicle not moving to go on a date, transition from work to home. So the interior of the vehicle has always been super important. But it's not a couch, it's more of a digitally enabled experience where frankly, we're building the electric architecture in such a way that we can shift software that we can't even imagine today. I don't know what's going to happen in the inside of a vehicle 10 years from now. And all I know, though, is that we need to ship software to it to make that happen.