Interesting that in the scrums with journalists at Ford press conferences here, it sounds like Ford is copying GM in some ways. Under CEO Alan Mulally, who joined Ford last fall from Boeing, Ford has appointed a product-developing champion along the lines of GMâs Bob Lutz. Mulally also is pushing Ford to follow GMâs lead in leveraging its global vehicles. He has said Ford may bring some models from Europe to the U.S...
Fordâs President of the Americas Mark Fields said Mulally has given management the marching orders for Fordâs global operations to share assets and behave like a global company. â Michelle Krebs, Senior Industry Editor, AutoObserver
billt9 says:
04:30 PM, 02/ 7/07
You mean GM and Ford are both copying Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, etc., who all have global cars.
GM was just falling into line with all other automakers, who already were intelligent enough to treat their global operation as one functional family. Ford is going to also.
Living in a dysfunctional family who won't talk to each other sucks.
estreka says:
04:51 PM, 02/ 7/07
As with anything coming from Ford execs, I suspect a lot of talk and little or no action.
andy1102 says:
05:58 PM, 02/ 7/07
Good for him - but, I really don't understand why this hasn't been realized before. European models could be used to differenciate Mercury's product lineup. We could have a more competitive Focus ... if they shared the global platform with N.A. Ford could have a competitor to the Fit, Versa, Aveo, etc, if they would have modified and brought over the Fiesta ... And then there are the opportunities with Ford's RWD platform from Australia ... Hopefully, his global thinking gets some traction.
ateixeira says:
01:51 PM, 02/ 8/07
Problem is, it will take 4-5 years before we really start seeing the fruits of his labor.
gmguy111 says:
05:30 PM, 02/ 8/07
all bark no bite i highly doubt fords corrupt exceutive board will follow through with this one then again they have not followed through with much of anything as of late
rs0987654 says:
08:29 PM, 02/ 8/07
This observation is absolutely true. Look back over last year and everytime GM bought retirements in the work force, Ford would follow. The same with selling off assets to generate cash. The real difference in the last couple of months is the pace of decision making and the rate at which Ford is copying GM has increased considerably. The faster pace of decisions coming Ford is due to the management style of Alan Mulally. Read back in the Auto News and other industry sources and the conclusion that one comes to is that Ford could not make a decision. Once Mulally arrived, decisions started to flow. It comes from his Boeing background. That company prides itself in having a plan and managing to it. If the plan is off track, then management must develop action lists to bring plans back on track. Plans are evaluated for risks, and risks are covered with mitigations. Every week plans are reviewed, statused, and updated. The recent progress at Ford lies not with the decisions, which they have been debating for years, but in the new management culture that Mulally has brought to create a greater pace of making decisions. And if the decisions that Ford is making where also made by GM, then who cares, as long as they are the correct decisions that will save the company.
estreka says:
01:34 PM, 02/14/07
They wont be bringing them from Russia. Ford's only plant just went on strike.