Ford strongest of Detroit Three, risks remain

[Blue Oval Guide]

Ford strongest of Detroit Three, risks remain

 

With its rivals near collapse, Ford Motor Co finds itself in a position to challenge for a role it has not held since the heyday of the Model T -- leadership of the U.S. auto industry.

 

A perennial No. 2 since General Motors Corp took the industry's top spot by market share in the 1920s, Ford has emerged as the strongest of the Detroit automakers at a time when all three are seeking government aid.

 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.

[RichardJensen]

Ford was #3 for a while in the 30s and 40s.

[laserwizard]

Amen!

 

As a student of the automobile industry, I must commend Ford for its relative strong position in this market.

 

I remember the looks on the faces of automotive pundits the day that Alan Mulally was hired - here was a guy who drove a Lexus, came from the aviation industry, and knew about as much about the automotive industry as Ronald McDonald knows. Here was a guy who took the reigns of a company that was best known for ankle-biting, infighting, and arse-kissing. Ford was a basket case after the Explorer rollover fiasco and the "everything but automobile" approach of Jacques Nassar. Furthermore, while he meant well, Mr Ford, after taking control of his company, ended up realizing that he wasn't the man for the job - the man to move Ford from morass to success.

 

Mulally made a couple of questionable calls early on - renamed the Ford 500 into the next Taurus and then bet the farm and mortgaged everything including his office chair and desk for a credit line. I recall him being lambasted for this lunacy - how was it that Ford could last the year (2006) after having everything hocked for cash?

 

Fast forward to 2008 - while GM (which had always been said by pundits to have been further along in their recovery plan than Ford) started down the road to disaster, Ford was at least able to stop at the top of the hill before going over. And while Ford secured the credit line when credit was easily available, none of Ford's competitor's had looked past their current quarter to forecast what could happen. Ford suddenly had a lifeline that other companies didn't have.

 

And what had been Mulally's second folly may end up turning out to be the difference between being another democrat socialistic basketcase and being an independent, vibrant, and free company.

 

Certainly Mulally saw to it that all of the independent Ford divisions were brought into the family where no one region had its own kingdom anymore - they all work for the one Ford - and Mulally ditched his Lexus for tours of duty in the actual seats of Ford vehicles - AND - Mulally asked the same question we all did "how is it the great European Fords aren't available here?" And so he made the decision to ensure that what is made elsewhere can be made here and he more quickly reacted than his competitors in shifting production - not only away from trucks to smaller vehicles - but to offer the best products in their class to the North American market.

 

Mr Mulally may have known squat about automobiles and cars, but you cannot mistake that he is a superb manager and motivator who has taken Ford from the brink to looking toward the future and being poised to launch a double-barreled assault on the automotive market with vehicles that will give Honda and Toyota fits.

 

Amen, brother Mulally. Thank God you are with Ford!