Ford Executives Point the Way Forward

From Detroit Free Press

DETROIT — A top Ford Motor Co. executive said Monday that Detroit needs to rally its spirits and pull up its sleeves in order to get its automotive business back on track because the region’s pessimism is actually hurting the future.

“You know, I’m really sick of it,” Anne Stevens, Ford’s COO of the Americas, said in an interview at the North American International Auto Show, where the company Monday revealed several new products and concept vehicles.

Those included a Lincoln MKX crossover, which will replace the Aviator SUV, and an MKS sedan. Ford’s Premier Automotive Group also showed off a Jaguar XK convertible and coupe and two concepts, Volvo C30 and an Aston Martin Rapide.

Stevens said there is hope for the future and nobody wants to see “Detroit being a ghost town.”

“There is nothing more destructive than negative energy,” she said. “What the hell happened to the barn-raising mentality? When somebody’s barn burned down and people rallied together and helped to rebuild that barn?”

Stevens is one of the top lieutenants at Ford charged with crafting and executing a turnaround plan. Ford’s ‘Way Forward’ strategy is slated to be announced Jan. 23.

Ford Motor lately has been promoting Stevens and Mark Fields, Ford’s president of the Americas, as a promising tough-talking duo, noting that they have complementary skills.

His experience in marketing and economics and her expertise in engineering and operations will help the pair craft a responsible plan to get Ford back on track, chairman and CEO Bill Ford has said.

While none of the executives would discuss details of the Way Forward plan, Stevens did paint a picture of how that strategy was formulated within Ford.

“What is important is we got in touch with reality, and that’s what I’m telling you we did, to the bowels,” she said. “We got in touch with it deeper than you could ever imagine … We engaged in fights, debates, conflict and then collaboration in the Way Forward.”

Wall Street seems to have mixed confidence in Ford’s ability to get its operations back on track. The credit-rating agency Standard & Poor’s cut Ford Motor’s debt rating deeper into junk territory last week, citing doubts that the automaker will be able to turn around its North American automotive operations, which posted a pretax loss of $2.1 billion for the first nine months of the year.

Aside from plant closing and layoffs, Stevens and Fields said reconnecting with buyers would be a key part of their future efforts. Both agreed that part of the reason the company’s 2020 turnaround plan fell off track was that it lost touch with them.

So quality and customer satisfaction – not just sales and market share – will be key measures of their success going forward. “We haven’t been as focused as we could have been,” Fields said.

Stevens agreed: “So the product that came out wasn’t in tune with who’s going to buy it.”

The two refused to say which vehicles might have been hampered by this lack of focus, but Stevens said Ford’s hit vehicles, such as the Mustang, Fusion and F-150, obviously understand their customers.

“Each of our brands has opportunities to solidify and stake out its turf in the marketplace,” Fields said.

The new plan also will try to better manage uncertain external factors, such as gas prices.

“One assumption we’ve made is that the environment will not be static,” Stevens said.

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