All Cars, All the Time

Bill Ford Steps Aside

Ford announced today that effective immediately Alan Mulally, formerly of Boeing, will become president and CEO of Ford Motor Company. Certainly this a surprise move, but perhaps a wise one. I remember when everyone was dog piling on Boeing after it cancelled its “SonicCruiser” (pictured below) in favor of the slower 787 Dreamliner.

Airbus ruled the day and Boeing looked to be in dire straits. Fast forward to 2006 where Boeing is flying high and heads are rolling over at Airbus. Not a bad turnaround.

Of course the concern has to be, can an executive not based in the automotive industry take the helm of Ford’s listing ship (don’t ask me how we changed from planes to ships)? A good manager can, I think, realize where the strengths and weaknesses of an organization lie and take steps to shore up the company. The question then becomes, will Mulally have the team in place to turn Ford around? I’m not so sure about that one. Ford has stumbled badly over the past few years and all of that cannot be laid at the feet of Bill Ford. There have been some management shakeups, but there has also been a severe brain drain.

I wish Ford all the best and hope that products like the Edge will help it to turn things around. Selling off its lineup of British manufacturers might be necessary as will a critical eyeing of its future product portfolio* (above). The pickup market is about to turn into a knife fight with GM and Toyota throwing their new entries into the market. Large and midsize truck-based SUVs are also withering on the vine. Real ground has to be gained on the car side of the market and that’s where Ford is going to have to pull a few rabbits out of its hat. From what we’ve seen so far: refreshed 500, Focus, etc. things don’t look at bright as one would hope. Perhaps there will be more to the lineup than we are currently privy to: at least I hope so.

It’s now in the hands of Mulally to decide if there is a Ford in the future.

* source: automotive news