Mulally wants Ford to Cut Company-wide Lineup Down to Around 20 vehicles

<a href="http://trends-automotive.blogspot.com/2010/09/mulally-wants-ford-to-cut-company-wide.html"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521706975599370082" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FoXyvaPSnVk/TKELPTJln2I/AAAAAAADWSE/63DrnXLiK8Q/s800/ALAN_MULALLY_SKV_0410_HR.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 645px; height: 349px;" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Alan Mulally, President and CEO of FoMoCo, told an audience of business leaders at the Confederation of British Industry in London today that Ford is looking to downsize its current lineup to 20-25 models in an attempt to "simplify" and build better cars.<br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;">It seems to make sense; instead of spreading yourself too thin and trying to be everything to everyone at the cost of quality, spend more of your resources on fewer models to ensure a well put-together product.<br /></span></p><p><a name="more"></a><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Clearly addressing the <a href="http://trends-automotive.blogspot.com/2010/06/it-official-ford-terminates-mercury.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">euthanization</span> of Mercury</a> and its badge-engineered wonders (as well as parting out Ford's Premier Automotive Group), Ford CEO Alan Mulally said:<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;">"When I arrived, it was absolutely clear that we had to simplify Ford dramatically...Fewer brands means you can put more focus into improving the quality of engineering."<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;">For the record, Mulally came into a FoMoCo that had ninety-seven (97!) models in 2006. Thanks to cutting back models and standardizing components, Ford has helped bring down the cost of multi-market cars like the Fiesta (65% of which is standardized parts).<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;">With Volvo's sale - at a huge loss - to Chinese Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ford's golden child already is now making sure those wasted Mercury funds are allocated properly (i.e. to Lincoln and its non-cohesiveproduct range). What's next?<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Mulally says, "The key thing now is to keep the economy going. All the fundamentals say that we are moving in the right direction."<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I'll believe that when Lincoln is a <span style="font-style: italic;">true-blue</span> luxury brand once more.<br /></span></p><p style="font-style: italic;"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">By Phil Alex</span><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Source: <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-27/ford-plans-to-cut-product-lineup-to-as-few-as-20-models-ceo-mulally-says.html" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Bloomberg</a></span></span><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><br /></span></p>

Mulally wants Ford to Cut Company-wide Lineup Down to Around 20 vehicles

Alan Mulally, President and CEO of FoMoCo, told an audience of business leaders at the Confederation of British Industry in London today tha...

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