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After spending a few days with Ford's main-marketing-man Jim Farley and his team, we can truly say that the excitement surrounding the company's new Drive One marketing strategy is palpable. They believe that the story they have to tell is rather compelling; the real struggle will be convincing car-buyers that their vehicles are every bit as good as their competition from Japan -- as recent studies indicate. To show people what's going on behind the scenes, Farley and his posse brought Ford's best and brightest engineers with them to Las Vegas to introduce their dealer-base to the new campaign. They let us tag along so we could see what all the fuss is about, and the dealers we spoke to seemed pretty pumped about Drive One and felt that Farley's new team at Ford was finally listening to them and doing something with their input. Keep reading to find out what else we heard in Sin City.

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Ford Flex.

The SUV exodus means Ford's Flex has the potential to be a hit and it's gearing up for an onslaught of orders when sales begin this summer. Ford's group veep of marketing and communications, Jim Farley, told Automotive News that consumers leaving the full-size SUV fold and others who haven't considered putting a Blue Oval badge in their garage might be ready to give something like the Flex a chance. CUV sales have been strong over the last year, and Ford and Farley believe that the Flex could rack up 100,000 sales annually if the trend continues.


[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req.]

As the days go on, the much rumored F-150 Raptor is becoming less wild speculation and more solid reality. Dealers were given a glimpse of the forth-coming truck at the Ford Dealer Show in Las Vegas, and they haven't shied away from spilling the beans regarding what they saw. Ford marketing boss Jim Farley unveiled the Ford-embossed front grille of the baja F-150, then showed video of a juiced-up off-road mule tearing it up in the desert.

Farley also revealed some details about the Raptor's new powerplant, which is believed to be the 6.2L "BOSS" V8. Power was quoted at 380 hp, but both PickupTruck.com and Four Wheeler believe Ford is sand-bagging on the engine's real power quotient, which they feel will be in the ballpark of 420 ponies. We're guessing 420 would be a much more appropriate number considering the size of the engine and rumors that the truck may be formally labeled as an SVT product. Dealers were also shown one of the Raptor's long-travel shocks, which was built by Fox Racing especially for the Raptor and has a full 12 inches of travel.

Ford is reportedly very excited about the Raptor, and execs allegedly went as far as saying that the Blue Oval was going to drive the truck "right up Toyota's ass." Ouch, we hope that's a metaphor. At this time there is no word as to when the Raptor will be available to customers, but since it's being shown to dealers, it likely isn't too far off.


[Source: PickupTruck and Four Wheeler]

Joe Laymon isn't on the short list of successors for Ford CEO Alan Mulally, and it's unlikely you've ever heard of him, but if you want to get to the top at the Blue Oval, this is the guy you stop by Starbucks for on the way to work. Laymon is in charge of keeping a list of internal candidates ready in the event Mulally retires (or quits, is fired or for some other reason exits his position), which could come as soon as 2011 when he turns 65.

Both President of the the Americas Mark Fields and new marketing chief Jim Farley are on the short list of six execs on which the company is keeping tabs, but some less familiar names are considered, as well. Europe boss Lewis Booth, CFO Don LeClair, Europe COO Stephen Odell, and manufacturing chief Joe Heinrich round out the list of internal CEO candidates that will be given to the Ford board in the event of a Mulally exit. The list isn't static, either, as names are reviewed and added or dropped each year. If the board doesn't like its choices, though, the list is completely worthless and the company will again look outside its hallowed halls for help, just like it did in Mulally's case.

[Source: Automotive News, subs. req'd]

Click the Fiesta for a high-res gallery

Until recently, Ford had only planned to sell the new Fiesta small car as a sedan in the US market. Judging from the reaction of readers in the comments here when we showed photos of the production version of the car, which is based on the Verve concept, most people disagreed. The vast majority of commenters chiming in said that they wanted the stylish little hatchback. Apparently, they aren't alone. When the Verve sedan concept appeared at the Detroit Auto Show, it was supposed to be shown alone. A last-minute change of plans was prompted by new Ford marketing chief, Jim Farley, who insisted that the original three-door hatchback concept from the Frankfurt show be displayed as well. The hatchback concept was on a European tour and was detoured for a stateside visit to judge reaction from American showgoers. It now looks like there is indeed a very good chance that the hatchback will be offered to US drivers in addition to the sedan.


[Source: Ford]

Towards the end of 2003, Ford unveiled the Freestar. It was a lousy minivan, and its name wasn't much better. From there the f-bombs started pouring in with the Freestyle, Five Hundred, and Fusion. Ford had a Shakespearean stranglehold on alliteration, but outside of the decent success of the Fusion, Ford's effed-up naming convention brought little name recognition to the Blue Oval's car lineup. When Allan Mulally came to town, he scrubbed the Freestyle and Five Hundred names for the much more recognizable and respected Taurus and Taurus X, but unfortunately the basic shape of the family haulers didn't change enough for customers to want them.

Detroit News Columnist Daniel Howes accurately points out that Ford is back to effing up the names of its vehicles. The Flex arrives this summer, and the Fiesta arrives in 2010. The News says Ford marketing head Jim Farley questioned why the Flex name would adorn Ford's full-size crossover, but even the ex-Toyota wunderkind is unable or unwilling to lose the F. We don't understand the fixation Ford has with the sixth letter of the alphabet. The Dearborn automaker's two most successful cars of the past 40 years are the Taurus and Mustang, both of which are decidedly sans F. As a matter of fact, the Camry, Civic, Accord, Impala, and Malibu are all alliteration-free. Sure, if the Flex and Fiesta are great products they'll sell no matter what they're called, but we'd like for Ford to give us an effing break.

[Source: Detroit News]

Bringing his experience heading Lexus with him when he defected to Ford, Jim Farley's got his eye on some premium-Toyota style brand growth. Ford's past party line has been that the Lincoln nameplate is strictly for North American consumption, but Farley's been conferring with other Forders like Peter Horbury about taking Lincoln worldwide. Lexus is enjoying rapid growth in markets like Russia and Saudi Arabia, so it's not a new concept for Farley, and Horbury has previous global-brand experience, as well. Whether Ford intends on turning Lincoln into an American Lexus (whatever that might mean) isn't clear, but our domestic luxury marques sometimes enjoy a better reputation elsewhere – witness Buick's stature in China (Counterpoint: witness Cadillac's stature in Europe). The newly unveiled MKS is a good weapon to shoot across the globe, riding on a platform that originated at Volvo. We don't think Lincoln will swipe customers from Volvo, as they're likely different groups of buyers - so what it really may mean is more potential buyers to snap up Ford's production capacity.

Thanks for the tip, throwback!

[Source: Auto News - sub req]

Jim Farley will climb aboard at Ford in mid-November, after defecting from his position as Group Vice President and General Manager of Lexus. His role at Ford will be dual-fold. Farley will be heading up the effort to entice people to buy Ford vehicles as Group Vice President of Marketing and Communications. In addition to his MarCom responsibilities, Farley will also be taking on the U.S. marketing, sales, and service for Ford, Lincoln and Mercury, a job most recently filled by the retired Cisco Codina. Ford needs to get North American consumers excited about their cars, and having Farley in charge of global marketing and communications as well as US sales makes us think that there will be some connection between the two efforts, keeping the messaging coherent and focused. Being able to see how sales are driven by marketing efforts, and Farley's track record at Toyota and Lexus would make it appear that he's equipped to understand and react to sales metrics. That understanding hopefully bodes well for Ford, and all the rhetoric is exceedingly positive about how everyone all around is excited for Farley to come aboard and make a miracle.

Ford's press release is after the jump.

[Source: Ford]

Sure, the loss of Jim Press to Chrysler was probably a bigger blow, but news today that one of Toyota's marketing gurus, Jim Farley, has been hired awar by Alan Mulally to be Ford's group vice president of marketing and communication implies that the Japanese automaker's North American operation is experiencing a bit of a brain drain. Farley will start at Ford in mid-November and report directly to Mulally. His resume includes overseeing the launch of Scion, general manager of Lexus and group VP of marketing of Toyota.

In addition to Farley and Press, Toyota also lost Deborah Wahl Meyer two months ago when Chrysler hired her to be its chief marketing officer. What we're seeing is a dream team of executives groomed by Toyota going out and testing the free agent market. It remains to be seen, however, whether Team Toyota will ultimately suffer for not keeping these execs in their positions.

NOTE: A few of us couldn't help but notice that along with his marketing acumen, Farley will bring another mullet to the Ford fold. He'll need a month or so of missed haircuts to reach Mark Fields' level of mulletocity, but he'll get there.

[Source: Ford, Automotive News, sub. req'd]