Bill Ford Out and Alan Mulally In as Ford President
Can the man who led the turnaround of commercial airplane manufacturer Boeing be the right stuff for Ford Motor Company? Bill Ford, President and CEO of Ford Motor Company up until yesterday certainly hopes so, as he has just stepped aside to make way for a new President and CEO, Alan Mulally, and continue as Executive Chairman.
“One of the three strategic priorities that I’ve focused on this year is company leadership,” commented Ford. “While I knew that we were fortunate to have outstanding leaders driving our operations around the world, I also determined that our turnaround effort required the additional skills of an executive who has led a major manufacturing enterprise through such challenges before.”
Ford, the likeable front man with questionable business acumen due to the challenging condition he leaves his namesake company in, will continue focusing on repositioning the automaker’s overall strategy, which is to include the sale of at least one of its numerous brands.
Only days ago Ford announced that its most premium nameplate, Aston Martin, is on the block, and with little doubt the automaker would probably be willing to field offers on Jaguar and Land Rover too. Volvo, the strongest of its Premiere Auto Group (PAG) quartet isn’t going anywhere, being that it’s so closely knit with many Ford of Europe products, and now, even domestic cars and crossover SUVs like the Ford Five Hundred and Freestyle.
Such products, which many pundits have criticized for not being bold enough in a market that is burgeoning with newer, more enticing vehicles every month, are seen as reasons why Ford has been losing out to the more courageous domestic, DaimlerChrysler, and the imports which just keep getting stronger each year. Still, Ford’s problems run deeper than any smash hit wonder-car can fix.
To be reasonable, while the Five Hundred hasn’t sold as well as Ford had initially hoped, nowhere near in actuality, its Freestyle has been one of the top sellers in the midsize crossover segment month over month. The Fusion is another big winner, performing as well as could have been expected in the hotly contested midsize sedan segment, and the Mustang, well, it’s the shining star in the blue-oval lineup. Where the automaker has seen trouble is in trucks and once-lucrative truck-based SUVs.
Even a redesigned Explorer, as good as it is, wasn’t enough to combat rising fuel prices and a turn to lighter, more car-like SUVs. Where the company made gains with its Escape and Freestyle, it’s been losing with Explorer and Expedition. Even F-Series sales are off, Ford’s backbone product.
Likewise Lincoln and Mercury have been hit hard. True, the new Fusion-based Zephyr (MKZ) and Milan sedans have been doing well, but Aviator and Mountaineer sales are down significantly, as are deliveries of the full-size Navigator SUV, and LT pickup truck sales have never been particularly strong.
So, with car sales up and mainstay truck and SUV sales down, can ex-Boeing CEO Mulally turn things in Dearborn around? Certainly if he doesn’t, no one is going to blame him. Still, the challenge to return one of the world’s largest companies to profitability was obviously too intriguing for him to turn down.
“Just as I thought it was appropriate to apply lessons learned from Ford to Boeing, I believe the reverse is true as well,” Mulally stated. “I also recognize that Ford has a strong foundation upon which we can build. The Company’s long tradition of innovation, developing new markets, and creating iconic vehicles that represent customer values is a great advantage that we can leverage for our future.”
According to a press release, Mulally achieved success with Boeing through customer satisfaction, manufacturing, product development, labour relations and supplier management; a list that is identical to that he’ll be overseeing at Ford. The commercial airplane manufacturing industry is, however, very different from the car business. First and foremost, while there are fewer buyers, there are nowhere near as many competitors.
New products like Ford’s Edge and Lincoln’s MKX crossovers should make Mulally’s job somewhat easier, mind you… if only slightly.