Can An Airline Guy Steer An Auto Company?

Doubtful.

When Ford & GM were run by sales and design they did well.

When the bean counters took over, the companies dived. Look what Roger Smith did to GM.

Now the "all businesses are the same" MBA's take over, and Mustang's will have tail lights from a Pinto to save money in the short run.

If any of these companies get their act together, they will put car people back in charge of the car business.

Looks like the Ford family decided not to buy the company back.

While I agree car people should run the car business, I think it's too early to tell if Alan Mulally will be another Roger Smith-type guy. Let's hope not!!! And let's hope he has the business sense to know good products, desirable products, keep auto manufacturers from running into the ground.

Patrick

Just read an article about this in today's business section of the paper. The whole gist was that Ford desparately needs an "outside" guy to run things. "The Family" is just too close to things to make the right decisions.

"Michael Johnson, PE" wrote in news:goednSFkNvOyjWPZnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

"Disaster" for FMC, I think is way too harsh. After all, Team Mustang under is tenure has been a huge success and he also greenlighted the Ford GT[40] project. If he was a ball player, IMO, his average would work out to be a low 200 hitter, with one home run, a few long balls and a decent number of RBIs. Not a guy you want at the plate in the

9th inning and you're down a couple runs, but certainly not a guy you're going to cringe when he walks up to the plate with two down.

They have done an absolute horrible job of marketing their products though. The current "Bold Moves" marketing theme has got them nowhere.

The problem is they have very few products. And the Lincoln and Mercury divisions have completely forgotten what they're about.

Here's what I would do right off the bat if I was the new CEO.

Top 5:

1) Leave Team Mustang alone to do what they've been doing. 2) Update the Focus. It was great when introduced but the most recent redesign didn't put it back in the front of the pack. They need this car to continue to be a hit. 3) Lincoln needs to be a rear-drive division. And they need a flagship... something with some retro. AND ditch the alpha/numeric name idea!! 4) Mercury needs some stylish cars. A Mustang-based Cougar would be an easy start. 5) The Hurricane V8 is proceeding, they have a new really nice V6 in the pipline, now they need a world-class 4 cylinder engine. Something really stout to bring import buyers into the showroom -- pair it up with a new rally-inspired Focus option.

Two words: Jack Nasser.

Patrick

Before I retired I worked for Boeing and it correct that Mullaly is a motivational and team building leader. But he also is a nut cutter! I would like to comment on items 2,3 and 4.

1. They should have imported the European Focus which has a lot of commonality with the Mazda 3 and Volvo S40.

1. Couldn't agree more! The new names are stupid!!! The name Zepher was a good idea but... And no V-8, you've got to be kidding me.

2. The Cougar was an image builder in the late '60's. I can still remember the TV commercial with a cougar sitting atop a Mercury sign and growing.

So, good luck Ford!

perspective. They have done an absolute horrible job of marketing their products though. The current "Bold Moves" marketing theme has got them nowhere.

systematically

We do have a more or less european focus... just the previous generation one. It would be nice if ford made successful foreign market cars for the US market without messing them up.

Most of them are...

What I would do product wise at ford:

Bring in successful foreign market cars. If they do well against japanese and european makes overseas they should do well here. Namely focus and falcon. They can be built in the US, but there is no reason not use successful models elsewhere after they have proven successful. (some exception for cars that obviously wouldn't sell in a particular place)

Create new models that people would care about. Not warmed over cars like the 500. Cougar is a good example.

Challenge manufacturing to give detailed and widely varied option lists, color combinations, and multiple body styles. One thing that bores me about cars is that all models come in maybe 5 different appearances. blah. Is every other 99-04 mustang silver? Seems like it. Let someone order an orange car with a blue interior if they want to.

It's about the product. But someone from commerical products might not get it. Then again, it was aircraft and a lot of those aircraft are entirely custom... so maybe he can apply it.

The difference in flight controls and instrumentation goes back a long way but if I'm not correct, the new 787 "Dreamliner" is standardized up front and idea which was pushed by financiers and aircraft leasing companies. Helps maintain the value. That's somewhat analogis to chassis platforms, engines, etc. But when it comes to interiors, Katie bar the door! I think a forest green interior would look better.

Maybe I'm being a little harsh but old Bill Jr. hasn't set the world on fire or even generated a flame, IMO, while at the helm of FMC. I will give him some credit for letting the Mustang team design a car that the fans would love. I don't think he understands, or knows, the auto business very well. Under his tenure Ford has dumped several of their bread and butter models that had huge name recognition. IMO, this has been a substantial contributor to their declining market share. I also give him credit for bringing vehicles like the hybrid Escape, Fusion, new Explorer to market but if he can't market them it really doesn't matter how good the product may be.

They have done an absolute horrible job of marketing their products though. The current "Bold Moves" marketing theme has got them nowhere.

I don't think Ford has too few. Lincoln and Mercury are definitely hurting for unique models. Why they don't let Lincoln compete head on with Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Cadillac etc. is beyond me. This is a niche that they have all but abandoned.

Agree. Maybe even give them the green light to develop a Cougar model for Mercury.

They need a car that has name recognition and will generate repeat buyers. IMO, they need to pick the Focus, Fusion or something and commit to it for the long run. How many Camrys are sold ever year just because of the name? My guess is a lot. If Ford brings another small car to market I think they should dust off the Escort name and use it.

IMO, the Continental, Town Car, Capri are a few they could revive.

I don't know if Mercury is worth saving at this point. I think they can get all the models they need from Ford and Lincoln. The only model that I see Mercury running with is the Cougar. They might be better off offering a luxury/sport Lincoln to boost the image of that brand.

I think Ford needs bread and butter models more that rally car variants and big displacement V-8s. They need something to go up against the Camry, Accord and Maxima. The majority of car buyers are not concerned with their car's name being on the race track. Ford needs a modern day "Taurus" in the worst way.

If the new guy does no better than Bill Jr. then Ford might be a subsidiary of Toyota by 2015.

On 6 Sep 2006 12:33:20 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote something wonderfully witty:

They have done an absolute horrible job of marketing their products though. The current "Bold Moves" marketing theme has got them nowhere.

Bill approached Nasser, supposedly numerous times, he passed, supposedly numerous times.

I agree with most of your points and would like to throw one in of my own. I really think all American car companies need to quit trying to compete heads to heads with the Japanese on styling and be freaking American again. If people want Japanese they'll buy Japanese, but if they want an American car, and what an American car used to be and stand for, other then bad quality that is, then lets give them that classic American styling. It seems to be working with the Mustang. People are drooling over the new Camaro & Challenger. The 300C was a big hit and so are the Caddy's. Bring back big & performance using technology to get fuel economy and screw tiny. Hell were Americans and were big & loud & flashy!

The new Mustang proves a lot of that.

Ford needs to continue quality, and add models people want.

Too many lumps put there. And Toyota & Nissan are falling into that trap. Maxima and Camry are starting to look like Oldsmobiles.

Time for some nice American cars.

Cougar and Thunderbird are a bit tarnished after the last tries, but could hold some respect if done right.

Styling and fun to drive were once the words at Ford, bring those back!

I drove next to a GRAND 1967 Galaxie 500 Convertible the other day. Black, white top & interior - near perfect. What a car!

>

No doubt that the marketing and ad people should be fired. For quite a while recently they were running ads for some ford cars, including the new 500. They wanted the ad to be "edgy" I guess, and the damn picture changed so quickly you couldn't even tell what the friggin cars looked like or even be sure what car it was you were theoretically looking at.

An GM can't seem to get their stylists out of their love of swoopiness. Every damn car they make, with rare exception, looks like crap, and the same crap rehashed year after year after year. If I see one more Pontiac with that god-awful fish front I'll puck.

The Boeing way has been to eliminate US jobs and outsource to other countries. They are building (overseas) special 747s to transport major Dreamliner sections from Asia to the US for final assy. Korea has exclusive rights to manufacture F15 major assemblies, and they are doing so right now.

Will you still buy a Mustang if 2/3s of it came out of Asia?

All these so called company leaders care about is the price of stock. When they anounce big layoffs, the stock price jumps and they get huge bonuses.

Say good bye to good paying US jobs at Ford.

>>

One of the worst commercials I saw from Ford was about some cutting edge super performance braking system. They went on to talk about it for

15-20 seconds and then at the end of the commercial they informed me that it's not available on any of their cars yet! After watching it I couldn't decide if they wanted me to wait and buy once the new brakes are in production or just go ahead and buy a Ford now with the old crappy brake system.

IMO, Toyota is the current marketing master. They try and convince the consumer that they have made the vehicle to fit their needs/wants. Ford and GM builds a vehicle the then tries to make us think it is one step away from and Indy racer even if it is a boring, cookie cutter sedan. Sorry but a Ford 500 isn't sexy and sleek. It is plain Jane mode of transportation. Toyota markets the Camry as a reliable, economical, no surprises form of transportation which is exactly what the car is. There are millions upon millions of car buyers that want exactly what the Camry delivers. The trouble for Ford is that they can't bring themselves to tell people the 500 is exactly the car for them too.

Ford can take a lesson from the Mustang. They built a sporty, quick, fun to drive car that they market as such and it is selling very well. They should do this same thing with all their lineup.

And the Ford GT[40].

Ford has let some models "rot on the vine" so long that any positive name recognition they had is destroyed by the time a new one would come out. That's why, IMO, they rename the next model.

Both GM and Ford has been bad marketing their hybrids.

They have done an absolute horrible job of marketing their products though. The current "Bold Moves" marketing theme has got them nowhere.

Not few products, I meant few *new* products.

It's crazy! They've all but destroyed Lincoln. And that's sad for me, after growing up with the Hot Rod Lincoln being one of my favorite songs.

At this point I'd keep Focus. By the time the Escort died, it was known as a bomb.

Personally, I never liked Town Car. The other two, yes!

Lincoln could/should be upscale. Mercury could/should be the stylish bridge to Lincoln and Ford the plainer entry level position.

But the 500 has just been introduced. All they need to do is refine/upgrade it.

Ford needs a new bib V8 for thier trucks. The 5.4 isn't cutting it anymore aganst the competition. PLUS, a 6.2 liter [Hurricane] would be really cool in a Mustang! :-)

Rally cars -- WRX's & EVO's image is HUGE amongst young buyers. And the Focus is the entry level model that could -- with a Rally model -- get some creed in that market. They need it to gain some respect. And before you think/say Mustang, the Mustang appeals to a different buyer... it just isn't going to do it for someone who loves an Evo.

Toyota doesn't need/want anyone. You won't see them buy-up any auto company.

Patrick

"Euro models" haven't done particularly well for the domestics -- i.e.

-- XR4Ti & GTO

Patrick

Practically everywhere in the US. Welcome to globalism and the north american union.

Yeah... because the US automakers screw it up time and time again.

WTF is a merkur? That was the first screw up there. GM with the GTO? well calling it a GTO was their first blunder. People didn't expect a GTO in theme of 1964, they expected a GTO in the theme of the judge. It's huge marketing blunders like that, plus not knowing how to sell the vehicles.

BTW, the current focus here is a warmed over, cheaped version of europe's previous generation focus. The contour was allowed to die as they tried to sell it like a tempo replacement.

Bring over the falcon. Move the driver's side over and don't screw anything up. Don't rename it, keep it named falcon. There, now there's something to compete with chrysler's V8 RWD sedans.

Chrysler is bringing over several MB designs without trouble. But then again they don't seem to be screwing things up with goofy new make names and poor market research.