So we all know Ford has been neglecting the automobile side of the business in the USA after making so much money from the truck/SUV side of the business. So who made those decisions? Who was in charge?

• 1960-1979 - Henry Ford II - CEO during Ford's glory days.

• 1979- 1985 - Philip Caldwell - approved and oversaw development of the Taurus

• 1985-1989 - Donald Petersen - decided to buy Jaguar

• 1989- 1993 - Red Polling - cited as "the man that saved Ford Motor Company in the 80's"

• 1993-1998 - Alex Trotman - 1st foreign born (British) Ford CEO -- worked on Ford Cortina team in Europe; decided to focus Ford NA on SUVs/ trucks during the SUV/Truck boom; also responsible for Ford2000 -- first "global" Ford initiative; Ford Mondeo/Contour

• 1999-2001- Jac Nasser - former chairman of Ford Europe; made major acquisitions - (Volvo, AM, Range Rover) ; severe cost cutter who attempted to maximize profits and shareholder's dividends; quality hits new low during his tenure, ousted after $5.5 billion loss in 2001

• 2001-2006 - Bill Ford, Jr. -- great grandson of Henry Ford; environmentalist, pushed for hybrids; started "Way Forward" restructuring plan

• 2006-present - Alan Mulally - continues "Way Forward" plan; brought back Taurus nameplate, outsider from Boeing; sold AM, Range Rover, Jaguar

It looks like the persons responsible for the shape Ford is in presently are Nasser and the late Mr. Trotman. It seems that when execs from Ford Europe came to power, some poor decisions regarding North America were made, although they were successful at previous positions at European Ford branches.

 

I don't think Trotman did anything bad. I mean, SUVs and Trucks were selling during the 1990s - so why not build them?

 

I agree. Explorer

 

LOL! Yeah, them there "Old Worlders" - it's all their fault!

So lemmie get this straight: because of your unreasoning hatred for everything European when it comes to the world of automobiles, you arrived at your emotionally-biased conclusion and then went looking for some facts to support it.

 

Giving people what they wanted at the time (trucks/SUVs) was a good thing and made a pretty hefty profit. But not investing that profit in keeping the automobile line up to date was not so good.

For instance, take the Thunderbird/Cougar MN12 platform. It was an excellent chassis ( double A-arm front suspension, IRS, etc) but it ran for almost 10 years without major changes, except for the addition of the 4.6 L V8 and an interior makeover. Then in 1997 they dropped it when T-Bird/Cougar sales dropped to about 100K combined. They basically gave up 100K of sales. They could have at least refreshed the sheet metal and got another few years of 100K annual sales out of it.

They had a B sized car then too, the Festiva, but that was dropped in 1997, and no further development on B cars for the USA was done. The 2nd gen Taurus didn't get much attention or updates until 2000. All it got was decontenting to cut costs.


At least the Mustang was not neglected, I give him credit for that.

 

Where did I say "hated everything European"? I've never said that. On this site I have only commented that European Ford and GM products have not sold well in the US, except a few cases such as the original Capri and the Focus, due to differences in car market and culture between the US and Europe.

I just found it ironic that Trotman and Nasser were so successful at Ford in Europe, (successful enough to be promoted to Ford CEO), but then made huge mistakes handling Ford NA like not investing in the car line and depending too much on trucks/SUVs. The fallout of those decisions is still being felt today.

 

Oh yeah, Bill Ford does deserve some credit for the Ford GT and S197 Mustang that came to market during his tenure as CEO.

 

Red Polling was on the board under Trotman and made the famous comment "If we can't make a profit selling cars then we'll stop making cars and sell only trucks and SUVs." So clearly the board backed the reduction in investment in cars.

While I have no problem with Ford under Trotman making the most of the market at the time (trucks & SUVs) Ford like most American companies are severly shortsighted. They forget that the world continually changes and the truck / SUV boom would not continue on forever. The most successful companies are those that anticipate the next market waves. The next most successful are those who even if they missed precicting the market, they can react fast enough to save their rear ends.