New Website Seeks To Utterly Destroy American Car Industry

by Edward Niedermeyer

Published: April 7th, 2010

new website seeks to utterly destroy american car industry

With about $34.4b in debt and a selling rate that’s being propped up by incentives and fleet sales, Ford ain’t out of the woods yet by a long shot. But compared to the ongoing debacles in the RenCen and Auburn Hills, things are looking downright sunny under the sign of the Blue Oval. Most of the credit for that tends to go to CEO Alan Mulally, who left Boeing to assume control at Ford in 2006. There are people who want him gone.

A website called www.bringalanback.com has popped up [via egmcartech] seeking to bring Alan Mulally back to his old company, which suddenly finds itself in need of its own turnaround after several delays of its 787 Dreamliner project. Though its understandable that Boeing insiders would want their old CEO back, Mulally is “REALLY” needed at Ford as well. Surely even they appreciate the importance of having at least one American automaker that generates something other than negative headlines. Sorry guys, but Alan Mulally is the first good thing to happen to Detroit since, well… there you have it. Hands off.

#AlanMulally #Ford #People #WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot

Edward Niedermeyer

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Akear on Apr 07, 2010

Mulally is celebrated for making Ford merely mediocre as compared to awful GM and Chrysler. He did kind of screw up the dreamliner project, and then left Boeing so he would not look responsible. Fortunately, Boeing is not doing so much outsourcing with future projects. They learned that lesson the hardway. Boeing is the world's best commerical aircraft developer, while Ford is probably the worlds 5th or 6th ranked carmaker.

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- NulloModo on Apr 07, 2010
  
  I'll take the bait... According to wikipedia (as accurate or not as it may be) Ford is currently 4th in worldwide sales, behind Toyota, GM, and VW. Considering Mr. Mulally has been focusing on the American market, which is the most important for Ford, and that VW is only a niche player here, we can remove them from the rankings. Also, while GM may sell more cars most months, as seen from previous posts today, they aren't making any money doing that, while Ford is, so let's go ahead and bump up another place for that. Toyota still has the strongest brand and most profitable sales in the US, but after the fallout finally settles from the SUA scandal that may change. Taking a firm from the verge of bankruptcy to profitability and second place in the world's most important market is hardly a cakewalk, and leading the development of vehicles that not only challenge but beat the competitors from Toyota is even more impressive.
  
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- Porschespeed on Apr 08, 2010
  
  I'll go along with Mullaly not being the second coming in absolute terms. But, given the environment that he walked into, let's jut say the bar is set rather low.
  
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- Audi-Inni on Apr 08, 2010
  
  Mulally left Boeing because they weren't going to make him CEO. Having met him while working at an airline, he is what you see. While Ford's success cannot be entirely credited to one person, he is the type of person who motivates and cuts through the noise to get to the point and he does it with a smile on his face and helping to make you smile in the process. I was really doubtful with his selection to run Ford, but I'm happy to admit I was wrong.
  
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SCE to AUX on Apr 07, 2010

2008 figures: Boeing: $60 Billion, 157k employees Ford: $147 Billion, 213k employees. Arguably, Ford needs Mr. Mulally more than Boeing does. I'm sure Alan has no interest in returning to Boeing, who really only has one or two primary competitors (Lockheed, Airbus), and whose products and contracts are far more politicized than Ford's ever will be.

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Bob12 on Apr 07, 2010

Ed, just a technical note: Mulally was never CEO of Boeing. He was CEO of BCA, a unit of Boeing.

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- Tced2 on Apr 08, 2010
  
  And, Mulally was passed over for the Boeing CEO spot when Phil Condit (2003) and Harry Stonecipher (2005) were let go. I think the chances of Mulally returning to Boeing are slim and none. Bill Ford will print money if necessary to keep him.
  
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CarPerson on Apr 08, 2010
...he [Al Mulally] is the type of person who motivates and cuts through the noise to get to the point and he does it with a smile on his face and helping to make you smile in the process. And we have a winner! He walked into a truly horrible situation at Ford where the top four layers of management could best be described as deadwood working feverishly to kill Ford. Instead of showing 100 people the door, which is what everyone else would done, he largely worked with what he inherited and got them to slow down on the rampant stupidity and get onboard with running the corporation professionally. A lot of what he has done is nothing more than common business sense but getting it carried out by a building full of wall-to-wall dolts who hate cars and hate the people who buy them is a modern day miracle.

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