Bill Ford talks about Ford's future
Could an interview with Bill Ford possibly be more timely? No sooner do rumors surface about a Ford-Renault-Nissan tie-up if the GM-Renault-Nissan talks fall through, than up pops an interview of the emabattled CEO by BusinessWeek's David Kiley.The lengthy interview is well worth the read, with a number of questions hitting directly on key issues such as Bill Ford's suitability for the job of Ford Motor CEO, the role of the Ford family in the evolution of the company, and the possiblity of an alliance with Renault-Nissan.
Meanwhile, industry analysts are weighing in with their views on a possible Ford-Renault-Nissan alliance, with the consensus opinion largely in favor (in contrast to the negative reaction to a GM-Renault-Nissan deal). Where the benefits of the GM deal didn't seem worth the effort (with the possible exception of gaining a new CEO in Carlos Ghosn), analysts feel Ford would have much to gain out of such an alliance, including:
- exploiting synergies with Ford Europe brands (recall that Renault was once rumored to be interested in acquiring Jaguar)
- better synergies in the North American market (Ford's struggles to bring a competitive B-segment car to market come to mind)
- an opportunity for Ford to exploit Renault-Nissan's proven purchasing expertise
- less brand overlap than a GM deal
[Sources: BusinessWeek, Reuters]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lee Gibson 7:16PM (8/24/2006)
Hmm. So his strategy is to say "synergy" a lot of times, and hope to God that Ghosn returns his calls?
Yeah, that'll work.
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Dubbedinenglish 7:35PM (8/24/2006)
Lee your reading the post wrong...the first half involves the interview, the second is the auto soothsayers, not Bill Ford.
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Rastus 8:39PM (8/24/2006)
Bill,
Go eat your Cheeseburger in Paradise and call it a day. I mean, it's painfully obvious you don't have what it takes to lead an automotive company, and it's painfully obvious FoMoCo doesn't have what it takes to be successful.
Just call it quits, cash out, and ride your baby-blue Edsel off into the sunset.
Most Americans want to look upon our industry leaders with a little respect. We can't do that with you, so perhaps it's time to take up lawn bowling with Rick Wagoner.
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far jr 9:03PM (8/24/2006)
The Ford family owns 40% of the stock. I read elsewhere today that the family is considering buying the company and making it private. How would that help the situation?
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J 9:45PM (8/24/2006)
Fords current turn around plans is all they need, There is no reason to sell anything or definitely not ally with any one. Mark Fields is doing as good as anyone else could.
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Tio 10:03PM (8/24/2006)
Women and children first.
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Dennis 10:33PM (8/24/2006)
Ford's best bet is to remain Ford and restructure to become the more competitive force it is capable of. To combine with Nissan, which has flat-lined (even declined) in American sales would be pure lunacy.
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iQuack 11:38PM (8/24/2006)
Maybe Ford stock is so cheap now that it would be a good time for the Ford family to take the company private. But look what they'd be buying:
http://tinyurl.com/fm4w2
If the above URL doesn't work, go to www.bigcharts.com, enter F, and view the 10 year chart.
Years ago, Ford's slogan was, "There's a Ford in Your Future." Now we wonder if there's a future for Ford at all!
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Blaming the victim 11:54PM (8/24/2006)
Most of the comments above lack depth and clearly out of touch with reality. If we look carefully, where are Ford's problems??
1. Ford's global operations are doing well.
2. North America is bleeding.
3. Jaguar and Land Rover are causing deep atrocious bleeding.
Jaguar and land Rover were great brands but they represent yesterday. They are bringing down the entire Ford Motor Company along with them.
Every year Jaguar and land Rover are bleeding in excess of 1 billion dollars. Even an elementary school kid will tell you to get rid of these two brands.
I angers me when people accuse Ford for ruining Jaguar . Ford bought jaguar and gave it all the engineering and financial resources. It was jaguars job to get it right. It was managed by english executives, with english board of directors and headquarters in England. It could not get the job done. They got an "F".
WHY BLAME FORD????
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Ford needs FOCUS 11:59PM (8/24/2006)
Ford has to get its Focus back. A former Ford executive is right on the money.
1. Ford should kill Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln and that damn Mercury.
2. The new arrangement should be:
a) Ford as a mainstream brand.
b) Volvo as the luxury brand
c) Mazda as the import fighter and engineering resource.
d) Aston Martin as the exotic on the top end.
As a result ford will get its focus back and do very well in the future.
FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS, FORD HAS TO GET ITS FOCUS BACK!
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why is ford firing people in US to cut costs 12:05AM (8/25/2006)
I wonder why is ford cutting its work force in US so deeply. It confounds me! Rather than getting rid of blood sucking leeches like jaguar, land rover and lincoln, ford should think seriously about the immense damage it has done to the morale of entire work force.
Why this sycophant attitude towards jaguar and land rover.
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Ford has sunk more than ten billion dollars in Jaguar 12:10AM (8/25/2006)
It is shocking how arrogant ford executives have become and how deeply they are in mood for suicide.
If no one is buying Jaguar and land rover, simply shut it down. It is so damn frustrating to see this jewel of american industry, a global icon, being taken down by a handful of blood sucking foreign brands.
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Michael Karesh 12:31AM (8/25/2006)
The Kiley interview uncovers nothing of interest. Not that I would expect him to. His book on BMW is essentially a PR piece, even plagiarizing a BMW press kit. Fluff, fluff and more fluff.
The question about family control being a problem in itself is pure B.S. Which other companies are heavily controlled by a family? BMW, Porsche and (to a lesser extent these days) Toyota. Are they having trouble attracting talent?
Taking the company private, now that would be interesting.
Land Rover is doing well lately. Jaguar, not so well. But there's still a lot of value in the brand and what it represents. Lincoln could also come back if they stopped changing their mind about what to do with it every two years.
The only clear loser among the brands is Mercury, which has never amounted to anything, not even in the best of times. Even Isuzu might have more potential, and they're pretty much dead.
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Ulf 12:03PM (8/27/2006)
I agree with #9
FORD is not to blame for Jaguar's failure. Quite the opposite, I think Ford have been VERY patient. They have trown obscene amounts of money at it, let them play as they liked, develop expensive models...and still no results. The Brits have f*cked up and they should take the blame. Time to axe Jaguar, it can't compete with the Germans. The Jaguar brand had still some air of performance luxury when Ford bought it despite the poor quality in the 70 and 80s. The brand image is still there but it is simply not strong enough to convince people to buy Jaguars. Compare with GMs handling of SAAB. Both SAAB and Jaguar are exotic sporty brands though Jaguar is more luxury. Both have made huge losses since they were bought by GM/Ford. But GM has not invested the same way Ford has SAAB has very few,really old models and some crappy badge engineering. Jaguar otoh have new high tech models. To ask more of Ford is unreasonable. It's time to take a hint from BMW and drop the English patient.
Land Rover has potential but now when every luxury brand have their own SUVs and crossovers the competition is fierce. If it's necessary to offer Jag och LR as one package I say get rid of it.
Mercury has also got to go. They are only sold in the US and Ford already has one near-luxury brand, Volvo.
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Roger 5:35AM (8/25/2006)
The Lincoln Town Car Signature Series, baby blue, oval window in the back, and stretching on forever was the car I fell in love with in junior high school. I realize that makes me a very wierd wierdo nerd gramma's boy or something. Nevertheless, that's the truth. I lusted after the Lincoln limos on MTV that featured hot tubs and other amenities.
I love the hugeness and the float-down-the-road-nestled-in-a-recliner"ness" of the Town Car, not to mention the fact that it's what a luxury car SHOULD be. That said, what is up with the design of the recent model years? It's just another "bubble car" with not much distinction. Frankly I'm disgusted.
I've read articles suggesting the only reason the Town Car exists today is driver's like to pick up passengers at the airport in them. That's not much of a reason.
I'm hoping Ford will decide to revamp, redesign, and restore. With some effort, they could make the Town Car a premier American luxury sedan, rivaling European models.
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Richard Warren 7:39AM (8/25/2006)
The fix?
It's right in front of you, it's called a sales report the second right in front of you is your operating statement.
Sales report, (remember those?) it shows you what is and is not selling, combine that over the last year and you have picture and trend of what you should do, hell you could even get some software (crayons and real paper)draw it out and the answer lies before you.
Cut or change what isn't selling, look at any backlogs in the order bank, fill them.
What marque is not pulling it's weight? Cut it, sell it or change it or how you're marketing it. Do it fast and if it isn't selling, a new grille and tailight package won't help.
Basic retailing, if it's not selling the price must be cut to move excess inventory. It's the basic rule of retail inventory control. Have a sale and screw the pundits, bypass the usual screams of basterdizing the resale, move the iron, it frees up cash.
Reach out to your dealer body, because in the end they are who move the product for you, above all listen to what they have to say.
Stop looking for a savior, they are not there, just because one guy turned around a company by cuting (you'll almost always show a profit that way)and is the darling at the moment (with some cracks showing) does not mean he will fix your company.
Don't fall in love with a brand just because you bought it, but has never done what you want. In car talk it's no better than "lot rot" the longer it sits the worse it gets, dump it, got a sucker who wants to buy it, jump on it.
Look at your operating statement, where can you really cut expense and make yourself more efficient.
What product do you have in the box already that you know works well, made here, made there does not matter, it's already product and it's selling.
Get back to your roots. What are you, who are you? What always sold well? What still sells well?
You're Ford goddamn it, you know what sells and you have a history of sliding and recovering, look at it and rememeber. You have a heritage, you're one of the last companies in this business that still owns a comany with a family name on it.
Now get your ass in gear Bill, use the talent of the people you have (and yes that includes your union workers) if you don't get the info you need from inside hire the people to get the full information you need and for gods sake don't hire yes men. Bill stop fornicating the dog and get it done.
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Nick 8:31AM (8/25/2006)
Bill still skirts around those questions about whether or not he wants the job, is right for the job, etc. Just saying "we need somebody, and right now I'm that somebody," is NOT instilling confidence.
For once, I wish he'd just say that, when asked these questions, right off the bat "of course I'm the man for the job...no one has a bigger stake in this company's success...". But no...he still dances around because he doesn't want to be there and it's one Freudian slip after another.
I honestly have little confidence left in this man. I wish he'd just hand his title over to Mark Fields and get it over with....Fields is doing all the work now anyway.
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mustangman 10:07AM (8/25/2006)
one thing everyone is suggesting is get rid of forign brands why not revamp them take jaguar and give it to a group of ford disigners land rover needs a new image completly and make mercruy the cost efficient econ cars to make them compeditive create a line of mercury hybreds, and small fuel efficent cars, maybe they should take an idea from india and make a 5000 dollar car. In addition now is the perfect time to make ford a private company if they think they can turn it around.
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jamie 11:34AM (8/25/2006)
#4 far jr
No. The Ford family only owns 5% of the stock, but they have control of 40% of the voting shares. Big difference.
Yes, Ford must be restructured quickly. But how?
First decide what market share Ford could conceivably maintain. Easy. 15MM vehicles a year are sold in America. Ford could easily garner 20% or 3MM vehicles.
Each manufacturing plant can build roughly 300,000 vehicles per year. That equates to 10 vehicle manufacturing facilities. So the remainder should be shuttered.
Each dealership should sell 1000 vehicles per year. That correlates to 3000 dealers (not the current 4300). Furthermore Lincoln-Mercury should merge completely with Ford to form a single dealership network, rather than the cost intensive two.
Successful product is the key to a successful business. Many changes are necessary here immediately.
1. No problem with MUSTANG. Keep up the good work.
2. FOCUS is way out of focus with what the public is buying. Adopt Mazda's product line to fill this niche. In fact buy out Mazda. That would solidify your world footprint better.
3. FUSION falls short of expectations. Styling should be more like Acura.
3. FREESTAR styling is too bland. A wedge shaped more masculin appearance would do wonders for this minivan.
5. FIVE HUNDRED is the bomb (and I don't mean it's great). Dump this dog.
6. CROWN VICTORIA is too outdated. A more Jaguar-esque profile would enhance this puppy.
7. FORD TRUCKS, VANS, SUVS need new styling really bad. How about a more wedge shaped bodystyle?
8. MERCURY should develop HYBRIDS for FORD. That would ensure the survivability of this nameplate.
9. LINCOLN should mimic Jaguar styling more.
10. JAGUAR should manufacture only exclusive Vanden Plas and XKE sport luxury cars. Drop the other models altogether.
11. ASTON MARTIN...no problem here.
12. RANGE ROVER should be positioned as the penultimate luxury SUV.
No need to sell brands.
Nor should any mergers with any other manufacturers be considered. This would only dilute Ford as a worldwide brand.
The Way Forward should remain a Ford priority and not involved any outside influences. Get it right before considering any other options.
Should Ford go private? Hmmmm???
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