Ford CEO Alan Mulally to keynote CES
by Chris Tutor on Aug 29th 2008 at 1:59PM 
Looks like the biggest gadget convention on Earth is becoming the place for big automotive announcements. You'll remember that two years ago at the Consumer Electronics Show, Ford and Microsoft announced their partnership on Ford's SYNC system, and last January General Motor's CEO Rick Wagoner chose Las Vegas to unveil the all-electric Cadillac Provoq concept. It was the first time in the convention's 40-year history an automaker had revealed a concept car to the world there.
This year it's Ford's turn again at CES, with CEO Alan Mulally taking the keynote spot. CES runs January 8-11 next year, but there's no word yet on what day Mulally will make his appearance. There's also no word on what he'll be saying or revealing to the thousands of people gathered in that Vegas ballroom. New SYNC features are a given, but will Ford also choose CES to roll out its plug-in hybrid project? Stay tuned for full coverage from the Autoblog team.
[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd, Photo by GEOFF ROBINS/AFP/Getty]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Randy 2:50PM (8/29/2008)
Wow, there's nobody posting on this? I feel as though if I type it will echo. I feel as though if I type it will echo. I feel as though ough ough ough
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JD 2:50PM (8/29/2008)
Seems like an unusual choice. Usually you have a keynote speaker who is, you know, in the industry the show is devoted to, but I'd like to hear him speak anyways. Besides, cars have lots of electronics these days, right?
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toneroo 3:02PM (8/29/2008)
I can't imagine why a bunch of people in a successful industry would want to hear the chairman of a failing company speak. Is he going to warn that the electronics industry needs to be careful that it doesn't go the way of the domestic auto manufacturers? This is very puzzling to me.
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That One Person 5:05PM (8/29/2008)
Yeah a chairman of a company who is trying to fix three decades of problems and crappy products.
It's not like Ford started failing under his watch...
George M. 3:50PM (8/29/2008)
American Auto Makers are trying to reach out to non-traditional markets. It may be too late to convince people that there's anything worthwhile going on.
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That One Person 5:05PM (8/29/2008)
I don't wanna sound like a domestic cheerleader but I don't really see too much of a problem with this.
The Big 3 need as much help as possible to get people back in their showrooms. There are a ton of people out there who won't even give the Big 3 a chance (heck, I have met people who won't even bother test driving a domestic) because of issues they had back in the 80s or people brainwashed others into thinking they still make crap. Sure, there are a few cars that are below par (think Chrysler) but compare those vehicles to what they were producing ten years ago. People don't wanna realize that they have changed.
They have their issues but they are trying to work on that (at least Ford and GM are).
Dave Zatz 12:47AM (8/30/2008)
There's multiple keynotes - the biggie pre-show has been Microsoft Bill Gates for like 10 years. Now Steve Ballmer takes his spot. The opening keynote on Day 1 is Sony. Ford is the second Day 1 keynote:
http://www.cesweb.org/sessions/keynotes.asp
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Don 11:56PM (8/31/2008)
I sure hope the Euro Ford models get here faster than the Boeing 787.
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