Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mullaly was a big fan of the Ford Taurus while he was still at Boeing Co. When he arrived at Ford as CEO in 2006, he asked to see the new Taurus, and was crestfallen when he was told there wasn't one.
Since he was coming in as the boss, he made it clear that he wanted to see some ideas for one. The result has been the current Taurus sedan, which literally was not on the drawing board until he arrived.
Mulally isn't another Lee Iacocca who was known for going to Chrysler's design studios and ordering such god-awful touches as opera windows and button-tufted upholstery on to Chrysler vehicles. Mulally, who may well go down in history as being a better CEO than Iacocca, though, has focused on making Ford a simpler, leaner enterprise that turns out the same or similar models worldwide that are getting increasingly better quality scores and reviews from the media.
To mark Mulally's fifth year at the helm of Ford, AOL Autos sat down with the CEO and discussed everything from his pay package to the newest fuel economy standards Ford has to hit, and the Taurus that he fathered.
In part three of our interview, Mulally talks about his experience with the Taurus, and his move to focus the whole company on Ford branded vehicles worldwide, plus Lincoln in North America. Gone are the days when Mulally arrived and Ford executives were spending more time worrying over European luxury brands like Jaguar and Volvo than about Ford. Mulally sold off the Euro brands to focus on the blue oval.
Click here to see part one of our interview, and here for part two.
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