At least for now, Ford Motor Company has put to rest months - no, make that years - of intense media speculation about when its CEO Alan Mulally will leave the company.
Ford says the 67-year old executive, widely credited with saving the company, will NOT be leaving his position until at least the end of 2014.
Mulally, a 37-year veteran of Boeing, took the helm of Ford in 2006, as the struggling Detroit automaker faced the prospect of bankruptcy, like its rivals Chrysler and General Motors.
Guessing when Ford CEO Alan Mulally will retire has become a favorite game for some auto beat reporters. But now Ford and Mulally have taken all the fun out of it.
Mark Fields, currently Ford president of the Americas, further cements his chances of becoming chief executive of Ford with today's announcement he is being promoted to the new position of chief operating officer, effective Dec. 1. Bill Ford also announced that Alan Mulally, who orchestrated a financial, cultural and product-led turnaround, will remain as CEO and president through 2014.
The actions will cut capacity by 18% or 355,000 vehicles a year which should result in annual savings of $450 million to $500 million, the company said today.
Ford Motor Company won't confirm an Automotive News report that its Lincoln brand will be re-badged as "Lincoln Motor Company."
Auto News reported this summer that it had obtained a document sent by Ford to a number of marketing firms, in which Ford said it intended to rename the venerable brand -- with a venerable name.
Ford Motor Company acquired the Lincoln Motor Company in 1922.
DETROIT (AP) — Ford is recalling more than 154,000 Fiesta subcompacts to fix a problem with the side air bags.
The company says that if the front passenger seat is empty, the side air bag won't inflate to protect rear-seat passengers in some crashes.
Ford says it doesn't know of any crashes or injuries linked to the problem.
The recall affects Fiestas from the 2011 through 2013 model years. They were built in Mexico from Nov. 3, 2009 to Sept. 21, 2012.
Dealers will reprogram the computer that controls the side air bag so it inflates even if no one is in the front passenger seat. The repair will be done for free
Ford Motor Company hopes to earn a place on the hybrid map in the U.S. with its new C-Max.
The company knows that won't be easy.
No one comes even close to the dominant sales position of the Toyota Prius line of vehicles - the original Prius, the smaller Prius C, and the larger Prius V.
Ford's new C-Max has a major bragging point: it beats the fuel economy of the Prius V by 7 miles per gallon on the highway.
The Prius is beloved by its owners; it has one of the highest loyalty ratings of any car.
So Ford has chosen a gentle style of humor over an aggressive pitch to sell the C-Max.
Ford today launched a series of ads using a cartoon character, "La Linea," -- a revival of the classic 1970s character from a popular Italian animated children’s series.
The ads show the character overcoming the performance limitations of a Toyota Prius, by driving a Ford C-Max. You can see one of the ads here:
“The ads are done with just the right tonality of competitiveness versus a strong competitor. It clearly positions our product in a fun way,” says Matt VanDyke, director, U.S. Marketing Communications, Ford Motor Company .
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