Ford CEO Jim Farley recently let slip on the podcast Spike’s Car Radio that Pope Leo XIV — born Robert Francis Prevost, raised in suburban Chicago — used to drive a Ford Fusion with a six-speed manual transmission. And apparently, the leader of 1.3 billion Catholics misses it.
“He actually missed his Fusion 6-speed. I told him that we lost like $4,000 on every one of those we made, but he didn’t seem to care much,” Farley said. Telling the Pope you hemorrhaged money on the car he loved is a peculiar flex, but Farley has never been accused of undersharing.
The timing lines up. Prevost lived in Chicago from the late 1990s through his appointment as Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru. The Fusion offered a manual from its 2006 launch until Ford axed the six-speed in 2015 alongside the 1.6-liter EcoBoost engine.
A humble, Mexico-built American sedan with a third pedal — peak Midwest motoring, and a genuinely fitting car for a man who would eventually wear white.
The Fusion was one of the last mainstream sedans you could buy with a stick. Ford killed it off entirely in 2020 as part of its great sedan purge. Today, the only Fords with a manual are the Mustang and the Bronco — neither exactly screaming papal modesty.
Farley wasn’t just reminiscing, though. He was setting up the replacement. He and his family recently visited the Vatican and personally delivered a brand new Ford Explorer Hybrid to Pope Leo.
Built in Chicago, the SUV was customized with hometown-themed details meant to remind the first American-born Pope of his roots.
He noticed and appreciated all the personal touches,” Farley said in a Ford press release. “We even took a quick drive, and I can confirm the Holy Father enjoys driving a sporty ride.”
A corporate press release about the Pope driving your hybrid SUV is not subtle brand management. But Ford isn’t alone in this game. Mercedes-Benz gifted the Vatican its first all-electric Popemobile in December 2024, and papal vehicles have long served as rolling endorsements — Lincoln Town Cars, Fiats, even a Ferrari Mondial at one point.
Pope John Paul II was once gifted the final production Ferrari Enzo. He had it auctioned for charity. Pope Francis, a Jesuit who refused to own property or hold a bank account, tooled around in a 1984 Renault 4 with 186,000 miles on the clock. The humility wasn’t performative; the car was genuinely terrible.
Pope Leo’s Explorer Hybrid won’t serve as the official Popemobile — that role currently belongs to the Mercedes EV wearing the Vatican’s S.C.V. 1 plate. But it will sit somewhere on Vatican grounds, a gleaming Chicago-built crossover with Ford’s blue oval catching Roman sunlight, doing exactly the work Farley intended it to do.
The real story here isn’t that a Pope drove a manual. It’s that the manual Fusion — a car Ford couldn’t make money on, couldn’t be bothered to keep building, and ultimately replaced with nothing — earned the kind of loyalty that a $50,000 hybrid SUV full of bespoke trim pieces is now trying to buy.
Ford killed the car the Pope loved, then showed up at the Vatican with a consolation prize. Leo took the Explorer graciously. He’s the Pope.
But Farley himself admitted the man still misses the Fusion. Some things a hybrid powertrain and Chicago flair packages can’t replace. Three pedals and a Getrag six-speed, apparently, are among them.
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