On Thursday, Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley encouraged Wall Street to shift its focus away from Tesla and its FSD driver-assistance systems, suggesting that the future of the auto industry should be centered on Ford’s “Pro” fleet business.

Farley drew parallels to Deere & Co., noting that the “Pro” unit, with a nearly doubled pretax earnings of $7.2 billion last year, mirrors the trajectory of Deere & Co. seven years ago, which has seen a stock increase of about 235% since that time.

“If you’re looking for the future of the automotive industry, stop looking at FSD and Tesla. Look at Ford Pro. It’s got half a million subscribers with 50% gross margin,” Farley said during a Wolfe Research conference.

Ford Pro encompasses the conventional fleet and commercial segments of the automaker, alongside emerging facets like telematics, logistics, and other connectivity services tailored for diverse business customers, ranging from local tradespeople to large corporations.

It also encompasses parts and services catering to businesses, CNBC reported.

Ford anticipates a growth in the Pro unit’s pretax earnings to a range of $8 billion to $9 billion this year, as announced earlier in the month.

In comparison, earnings projections for Ford’s traditional “Blue” business stand at approximately $7 billion to $7.5 billion, with anticipated losses in its Model e EV business projected between $5 billion and $5.5 billion.

Unlike Ford, Tesla does not disclose revenue or earnings specifically from its premium driver-assistance software, known as Full Self-Driving Beta (FSD) or FSD Beta.

Despite the absence of detailed financial breakdowns, many Wall Street analysts speculate that such software could generate tens of billions of dollars annually by the year 2030.

Written by B.C. Begley