Ford Edge Will Sell For Under $26k
September 20th, 2006
Ford Motor Company will launch its all-new and highly anticipated 2007 Ford Edge crossover with a sticker price below $26,000, Cisco Codina, group vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service, announced today at a meeting of the Midwest Automotive Media Association.
At the meeting Codina reaffirmed that between now and the end of 2008, 70 percent of the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury lineup by volume will be all-new or significantly freshened. That includes strong new vehicles in new segments like the Ford Edge, which goes on sale in November, as well as a new 2008 Ford Super Duty pickup, which will be revealed next week at the State Fair of Texas and will go on sale in January.
Must… Sell… Cars… Top 10 Cash Back Offers
September 17th, 2006
Automakers with remaining 2006 inventory are getting desperate in some cases to get rid of their lot. Cars.com has assembled the 10 best incentive offers based on the percentage off of a car’s base MSRP, and Kia tops the list by offering 26.32% off the Sorento and 23.87% of off the Sedona minivan.
Why so much? Because they’re 2005 models! The third vehicle on the list, however, is the most appealing to us. Saab wants to get rid of the last remaining 9-2X models and is offering $5,000 off of the car’s base MSRP, which amounts to a substantial 21.75% discount on what is essentially a more luxurious Subaru WRX. The rest of the list is as follows.
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Mulally New Ford CEO
September 5th, 2006
Bill Ford lost his job as chief executive of his family’s car company on Tuesday. And he seemed downright giddy about it all. He joked that the Lexus 430 driven by his replacement, former Boeing executive Alan Mulally, would be keyed. He joked that Mulally’s youthful looks would be quickly degraded by the stress of the problems at Ford Motor.
Bill Ford was yucking it up because he is relieved. He was clearly overworked and overwhelmed, and he finally got some help. Bill Ford never warmed up to the task of chief executive in the five years he served. And because of years of management turmoil, Ford was left with a young and thin management team. The man who didn’t even want to be chief executive also was standing in as chief operating officer because that post was vacant.
Meanwhile, the family’s company, under his watch, has slid into one of the most difficult periods of its 100-year life. Its North American auto operations lost $2.5 billion in 2005 and $1.3 billion through the first half of this year. And Ford’s (nyse: F – news – people ) market share has been eroding steadily for years. So far this year, Ford has lost another point of market share, to about 18%. A decade ago, Ford had 25% of the auto market.
In July, Bill Ford, who will remain chairman of the board, told the rest of the board he wanted to look for help. He came up with Mulally, 61, who ran Boeing’s (nyse: BA – news – people ) commercial airplane division. Mulally is credited with helping turn Boeing around, in part by developing the 787 Dreamliner, a light, fuel-efficient mid-size jet that can cover long distances nonstop.
Bill Ford said Mulally will provide a “steady hand” to Ford’s young executives, someone who has “been through the wars, who has the battle scars and emerged victorious.” Mulally described himself as “nervous, but not afraid.”
If Mulally can provide that, it is just what Ford needs. While speaking in general terms about his own tenure, Bill Ford said that not everyone was cut out for certain situations. In stepping down, he indicated–rightly, it seems–that Bill Ford was not the one to lift his company out of its current mess.
It is indeed a difficult mess. Unlike past Ford downturns, this time the economy and industry vehicle sales have been robust. But customer tastes, constantly improving competition from abroad, and staggering labor and health care costs have left Ford at sea.
Bill Ford became chairman of Ford’s board of directors in 1999, the first Ford family member to head the company since Henry Ford II stepped down in 1979. He added the chief executive title in 2001 after pushing out Jacques A. Nasser. Mulally must be mindful of the fact that Nasser was only the latest in a serious of well-known executives who were nudged out by the Ford family, though he said he had not talked to Nasser before accepting the job.
But Mulally said Bill Ford’s continued involvement in the company–and the long-term perspective that comes with a family-controlled enterprise–was critical in his decision to leave Boeing after 37 years. “I would never have considered it if I couldn’t have worked with Bill. It was absolutely a condition to take the job,” Mulally said.
No doubt another contributing factor in Mulally’s decision was the fact that he had been passed over as CEO of the aircraft maker.
When Bill Ford took over as chief executive, he was seen by many, both inside the company and out, as a savior. Indeed, he moved quickly to restore profits by selling noncore businesses and cutting 35,000 jobs worldwide.
But at times he has seemed overwhelmed by the enormity of the task. His management team has been a revolving door, leading to hiccups in product development that caused Ford to lose precious time bringing new vehicles to showrooms.
Though he was one of the first to warn that higher gas prices would slow sales of big sport utilities, he was blindsided by how quickly Ford’s market share collapsed as a result. In September, North American boss Mark Fields is expected to announce details of a new strategy to cut costs, speed up product development and restore profits. Mulally said that from what he’s seen of the new plan, Ford is making the right moves.
While Mulally and Fields work to save the company, Bill Ford will retreat to the chairman role he has had since 1999, where he has always seemed more comfortable. So there will still be a Ford at the top.
Bill Ford lost his job as chief executive of his family’s car company on Tuesday. And he seemed downright giddy about it all. He joked that the Lexus 430 driven by his replacement, former Boeing executive Alan Mulally, would be keyed. He joked that Mulally’s youthful looks would be quickly degraded by the stress of the problems at Ford Motor.
Bill Ford was yucking it up because he is relieved. He was clearly overworked and overwhelmed, and he finally got some help. Bill Ford never warmed up to the task of chief executive in the five years he served. And because of years of management turmoil, Ford was left with a young and thin management team. The man who didn’t even want to be chief executive also was standing in as chief operating officer because that post was vacant.
Meanwhile, the family’s company, under his watch, has slid into one of the most difficult periods of its 100-year life. Its North American auto operations lost $2.5 billion in 2005 and $1.3 billion through the first half of this year. And Ford’s (nyse: F – news – people ) market share has been eroding steadily for years. So far this year, Ford has lost another point of market share, to about 18%. A decade ago, Ford had 25% of the auto market.
