Mark Fields, Ford’s
Executive Vice President and President of the Americas, had barely stepped off the stage at the Los Angeles Auto Show when reaction to his presentation uploaded onto the World
Wide Web.
Robert Beamesderfer of The Truth About Cars noted
how Field’s speech focused on cars. He noted how the company has acknowledged that the “customer is
king”. And he noted that, “Small cars are ripe for bold design and innovation…no American manufacturer is
putting a stamp on small cars.”
Great. So where are the details? asked Mr. Beamesderfer (and the rest
of the audience.) Unfortunately, Mr. Fields never gave specifics. He does mention that the manufacturer’s new
product line up would be “bold, distinctly American designs and a large dose of ‘innovation’ ”. And while
that was an (obvious) observation, he caused some some head scratching when he said Ford would not be “trying to
out-Korean the Koreans”, relying on said designs. Okay, but how? Instead he closed his presentation with some
“flag-waving”: “Many brands want to be American. However, there is no uniquely and consistently
American brand in the auto industry.”
See here for Autoblog’s own coverage
on the event. Ford is planning to officially announce its 2006 plans later this month.