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Hackett's Vision


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Well Ford fans, here is a good view on where we are headed. Amazing. We truly have a magician at the helm. He is going to cut 14 billion in costs, get rid of engineers, cut 7 billion from cars, (Hey Toyota, Honda, if you thought you had it good before just wait!), and come out with 40 new electric vehicles in 4 years. Let's see, its taken how long to bring out the Ranger-using an existing highly successful model? And Bronco????

 

Oh and close attention to Apple and Tesla is going to be a big part of this strategy. Again good news for Toyota, Honda and the Koreans.

 

I think Jac the Knife is back!

 

 

Hackett urging Ford to think, act in new ways

 

Michael Martinez, Automotive News / January 21, 2018

 

DETROIT — You'd be forgiven for having a tough time keeping up with some of Jim Hackett's musings.

 

Ford Motor Co.'s cerebral CEO says he likes to think in the abstract and often considers problems along three time dimensions simultaneously.

 

Hackett views issues in the "now," "near" and "far," likening the view to a bull's-eye with those words in concentric circles. His job, he says, is to manage Ford in each of those circles to ensure success.

 

That might explain why most of Hackett's public appearances since becoming CEO in May take the tone of a college-level philosophy or physics lecture. He invited a Harvard philosopher onstage this month at CES in Las Vegas to lead the audience through a thought exercise about data privacy, and delved into a discussion of deep learning last week during a fireside chat-style appearance at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit.

 

 

Full Story: http://www.autonews.com/article/20180121/OEM09/180129966/ford-ceo-jim-hackett-teaching-new-ways
Edited by akirby
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I read the same article and one on Automotive News that compared his vision to GM's and it was frickin scary. Worth checking out-I'm not sure what the hell this guy is doing. He's talking like a college philosophy professor who just dropped acid. While over at GM they have a very clear vision and are executing and providing results. Sure they have some challenges but it is night/day versus Ford.

When they promoted him out of the autonomous division that alone kind of scared me.

Going to forcefeed products that consumers really don't want or are read for and see where this ends up. The infrastructure does not even support or has even been developed and this is where they want to be in a few years?

 

And your right-we will see the Ranger in 11 months or so......how pathetic.

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He's still better than Fields/Farley (he needs to be shown the door too). It is not Hackett's fault we won't see the Ranger for a year and that the product pipeline has nothing in it, that high short term quarters are better than long term stability, that decontenting has come back to Ford in a big way in the past two years, that producing class leading product isn't important as long as you're in the segment. I'm not saying that he is right, but there are monumental forces at play. Ford is back into its Metro Detroit Box, that the rest of the country and world didn't matter, and i'm going to look out for my bonus, making my job easier and do as little as possible, Ford now seems to be not in 2008/9 but back in 2004/2005. We won't know what Hackett does in terms of product until next year at the earliest.

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Going to forcefeed products that consumers really don't want or are read for and see where this ends up. The infrastructure does not even support or has even been developed and this is where they want to be in a few years?

 

 

Couple comments here-

 

Seems like everyone is jump off the deep end here that Ford is promising 16 cars sold world wide that will be electric only, with only so far one confirmed coming to the US- The Model E/Mach 1/Performance BEV that will be out in 2020 or so

 

I'd venture to the guess that there will be more EV models in China and lesser extent the EU due to government regulations vs actual want.

 

The other models will be Hybrids- which they need to meet new CAFE regulations-depending how much they change with the current government.

 

Ford needs to spend money on EV's- Not sure why people have an issue on this. We are already in 2018 and almost one month down already

 

Look at Product cycles-new platforms need to support Hybird/Electric cars and the current platforms are on the older side and only have another 4 years that the most in them-so we are looking at the 2021-22 time frame. A MCE would come around 2026 or so for Products-You see what I'm getting at here-Change is coming and just due to natural product replacement Ford needs to have tech like this out there sooner then later instead of depending on ICE, which in 10 years time will be more or less a dinosaur. Its not like we are going to be getting a 40-50 MPG Mustang that puts out 800HP anytime soon...a EV Mustang is much more likely to be able to do that and go 250 miles a charge.

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Couple comments here-

 

Seems like everyone is jump off the deep end here that Ford is promising 16 cars sold world wide that will be electric only, with only so far one confirmed coming to the US- The Model E/Mach 1/Performance BEV that will be out in 2020 or so

 

I'd venture to the guess that there will be more EV models in China and lesser extent the EU due to government regulations vs actual want.

 

The other models will be Hybrids- which they need to meet new CAFE regulations-depending how much they change with the current government.

 

Ford needs to spend money on EV's- Not sure why people have an issue on this. We are already in 2018 and almost one month down already

 

Look at Product cycles-new platforms need to support Hybird/Electric cars and the current platforms are on the older side and only have another 4 years that the most in them-so we are looking at the 2021-22 time frame. A MCE would come around 2026 or so for Products-You see what I'm getting at here-Change is coming and just due to natural product replacement Ford needs to have tech like this out there sooner then later instead of depending on ICE, which in 10 years time will be more or less a dinosaur. Its not like we are going to be getting a 40-50 MPG Mustang that puts out 800HP anytime soon...a EV Mustang is much more likely to be able to do that and go 250 miles a charge.

I agree. I don’t think the cuts will be as drastic as everyone is thinking. As for that $11B investment - they have $28B in the bank already.

F150, mustang, explorer will definitely be hybrid capable. Short and long escape and anything else on the new C3 platform including Focus should be hybrid capable. Some of those could probably be BEVs as well with a larger battery pack. I think we’ll see a few variants of the new dedicated BEV platform. Fusion may be moving to CD6 along with Edge (or to a lengthened C3) to take advantage of the electrification capabilities and that might take longer.

 

I think they can walk away from Taurus and Fiesta cars with no big impact. Walking away from Focus and Fusion entirely or letting them continue to rot on the vine would be a mistake.

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Thanks for sharing this article Bob Rosadini sir. Ford Motor Company really needed a leader from outside the company. Jim Hackett's vision for Ford's future makes him the right person for the job.

So sorry "sir" this does not foot with your view. And do I from time to time think that ANY of us who post here have a right to question the wisdom of some decisions that are made? I do. As always, food for thought. Did Nasser take a lot of shit on this site during his reign? He did. And I don't think a lot of us were wrong.

 

I own a lot of shares in this company. And when I bring up my Seeking Alpha articles everyday, I don't seem to find much positive being said about this savior.

 

He is going to cut engineers, cut outside component costs, and come out with 40 new vehicles in 4 years! Like I said a magician.

I wish however he would devote a little energy to things like a horrible recall history. That in itself says perhaps cutting engineering talent and striving for lower outside parts costs, just might be part of the problem.

 

Now if you or anyone else can show me that Ford's recall history is in line with everyone else-and in particular Toyota, Honda, and the Koreans, I'll be the first to apologize.

 

No doubt electrification will take place. But at a measured pace and not at the expense of everything else in the product mix-at least as I and many others think.

 

100 % Ford guy. I just don't drink the Kool- Aid -and could use some positive news as to why this guy will nail it.

 

So by all means, fire away.

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While I don't disagree with much of what you guys are saying I just find this guys rhetoric sounding like someone either in over his head or just has this perspective of where the market is going to be in 10 years be hell or high water. Go to automotive news and read the main article I mentioned.

I don't know what the hell he is saying......

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So sorry "sir" this does not foot with your view. And do I from time to time think that ANY of us who post here have a right to question the wisdom of some decisions that are made? I do. As always, food for thought. Did Nasser take a lot of shit on this site during his reign? He did. And I don't think a lot of us were wrong.

 

I own a lot of shares in this company. And when I bring up my Seeking Alpha articles everyday, I don't seem to find much positive being said about this savior.

 

He is going to cut engineers, cut outside component costs, and come out with 40 new vehicles in 4 years! Like I said a magician.

I wish however he would devote a little energy to things like a horrible recall history. That in itself says perhaps cutting engineering talent and striving for lower outside parts costs, just might be part of the problem.

 

Now if you or anyone else can show me that Ford's recall history is in line with everyone else-and in particular Toyota, Honda, and the Koreans, I'll be the first to apologize.

 

No doubt electrification will take place. But at a measured pace and not at the expense of everything else in the product mix-at least as I and many others think.

 

100 % Ford guy. I just don't drink the Kool- Aid -and could use some positive news as to why this guy will nail it.

 

So by all means, fire away.

 

Just read the article. Where does it say that Ford will be firing engineers?

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Last September we toured Michigan's Upper Peninsula. i met a Ford engineer in a Focus RS who was recruiting new engineers from Michigan Tech University (a noted engineering school). Sure sounds like Ford is hiring to me.

Well yeah, theyre hiring younger, cheaper people straight out of college and incentivizing the old expensive guys to retire. Thats nothing new.
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Sorry guys but something keeps gnawing at me that Hackett is out of his depth and the more I read about

his interviews and discussions, the more I feel he's trying to impress Bill Ford by spending big on Bill's vision.

Fields left Ford with a huge pile of cash and Hackett seems determined to burn right through it on vehicles

that few in high profit North America will ever see let alone want to buy.

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Sorry guys but something keeps gnawing at me that Hackett is out of his depth and the more I read about

his interviews and discussions, the more I feel he's trying to impress Bill Ford by spending big on Bill's vision.

Fields left Ford with a huge pile of cash and Hackett seems determined to burn right through it on vehicles

that few in high profit North America will ever see let alone want to buy.

Fields left ford with a huge pile of cash because he didn't spend anything on the future, delayed product, cut money from new vehicle programs and didn't invest in new technology or really anything.

 

Fields is the guy that got promoted to his level of incompetence, people carried him though his carrier the uppers were "grooming him" so he could take higher positions. People behind him wanted to rise with him so they made him look good; well except his hair stylist, he/she tried to let the world know what a slim-ball he was though a visual alert.

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Sorry guys but something keeps gnawing at me that Hackett is out of his depth and the more I read about

his interviews and discussions, the more I feel he's trying to impress Bill Ford by spending big on Bill's vision.

Fields left Ford with a huge pile of cash and Hackett seems determined to burn right through it on vehicles

that few in high profit North America will ever see let alone want to buy.

 

But on the flipside, old management wasn't spending enough and still wanted to make cuts in the current programs...

 

Another thing that alot of people are forgetting- Talk is cheap- Remember how Bill Ford said they would have 25 MPG SUVs by 2010- Ford has made lots of announcements over the past 10-15 years that didn't amount to anything.

 

Lots of this is fluff for Wall Street.

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He can talk all day about his "vision for the future," because he will likely be long gone from the stage before anyone can judge whether he was right. Meanwhile, posters here want concrete answers regarding the fate of the Fusion, the styling of the Bronco and whether the next-generation Focus finally replaces the crappy automatic transmission. At this point he isn't going to address any of that in this type of interview.

 

At least it helped Automotive News fill some copy space.

Edited by grbeck
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Meanwhile, posters here want concrete answers regarding the fate of the Fusion, the styling of the Bronco and whether the next-generation Focus finally replaces the crappy automatic transmission. At this point he isn't going to address any of that in this type of interview.

 

The interesting thing is that rumor about the Taurus dying off this year came to a screeching halt-there will be a 2019 MY after all.

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The interesting thing is that rumor about the Taurus dying off this year came to a screeching halt-there will be a 2019 MY after all.

 

My guess is they decided to keep it around until the Chicago plant refit for 2020 Explorer/Aviator. Then it'll die without a replacement (PI could be replaced by a Fusion derivative if they don't just go PIU only).

 

He can talk all day about his "vision for the future," because he will likely be long gone from the stage before anyone can judge whether he was right. Meanwhile, posters here want concrete answers regarding the fate of the Fusion, the styling of the Bronco and whether the next-generation Focus finally replaces the crappy automatic transmission. At this point he isn't going to address any of that in this type of interview.

 

At least it helped Automotive News fill some copy space.

 

I can't see ANY scenario where the Focus doesn't change transmissions.

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Here in Pennsylvania, local police departments and the State Police have largely switched over to the Explorer. I doubt that the Taurus will be missed by the police.

 

That's what I'm saying, PIU sells double (if not more) of the PI every month, so it won't surprise me if they altogether drop the PI.

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