Ford Motor Company

FORD

The division that carries the corporation’s namesake portfolios a nice and lengthy lineup of vehicles in various segments. Their current offerings, broken up by segment and in order of class, are as follows:

Cars: Fiesta, Focus, Fusion (also available in a Hybrid), Mustang and Taurus

Crossovers: Edge and Flex

Trucks: Ranger, Transit Connect, F-150, E-Series (it’s really a van, not a truck) and Super Duty

SUVs: Escape (also available in a Hybrid), [Explorer] Sports Trac, Explorer and Expedition

Seeing the Ford list arranged like this shows that they have something for everyone. Regardless of budget and interest, there’s a car or truck or something in between for each of you. What there isn’t is a high mpg automobile to get them the “cutting edge, driver-friendly” reputation that they so desperately desire. They had their chance to fill this need and take advantage of low-cost technology that would have paid off tremendously for them with the 2011 Fiesta, but they chose not to. An article found on Bloomberg Businessweek describes Ford’s fear to release the 65 mpg commuter car in the U.S. Instead, the otherwise genius company chose to release it in Europe only.

That’s what they didn’t do; here’s what they should… Ford should discontinue the Focus. Since its size is so close to that of the new Fiesta, get it out of here! The “we almost had one” diesel engine from the European Fiesta needs to go in the Transit Connect. The Transit is more of a commercial vehicle and mostly competes with the Dodge Sprinter, which does have a diesel engine pumping out approximately 30 miles per gallon. Finally, come out with the Ford Bronco concept. That thing is a beast and I want one. NOW!

LINCOLN

Lincoln’s list is short, but appropriate. Their MKZ is the smallest of the collection at almost 190 inches, which in my opinion is too close to the 204.1-inch MKS when you see it in person. The MKZ should use the Ford Focus platform to compete with automobiles such as the Audi A4, Audi’s no. 1 seller. The MKS, MKX and MKT are ideal in their current states. As a favorite amongst luxury SUV buyers, the Navigator is long overdue for a touch-up. The current grille is by far one of the most hideous Sport Utility fronts in history. Is it me or did this Navigator never fit in with the other automobile’s aesthetics? Now that all the others share a similar look, with the exception of the historic Town Car, time is of the essence for head designer Gordon Platto to make some much needed revisions. The Town Car has always been iconic and a necessity in every limo fleet. With that being said, the Town Car should receive some minor and  modern limousine updates: maybe a rear-seat laptop docking console with fold-out tables similar to that found on airplanes, refrigerated armrest storage, or simply a rear passenger climate control.

General Motors

CHEVROLET and GMC

My “If I were president” plans for Chevy isn’t always received well by others. By the way, I mean president of GM, not America. It starts and ends with them canceling their entire truck, SUV and crossover vehicles and branding any proprietary Chevrolet models under GMC. Since GMC has a Sierra, Canyon, Yukon, Savana and Acadia that share bodies with Chevy’s Silverado, Colorado, Tahoe, Express and Traverse respectively, the only models that need to consolidated are the Avalanche, Equinox and SSR (for commercial dealers only).

BUICK

Buick is a great brand. It’s the sophisticated luxury alternative to GM’s cutting edge luxury Cadillac. In LaCrosse vs Regal?, I purposed the idea of replacing the Lucerne with the LaCrosse, keeping its striking features and name, but adding some length to appropriately fit the spot and separate it from the very-close-in-size 2011 Regal. What I did not mention is possibly the best Buick recommendation yet… re-releasing the Reatta. This would be the perfect addition to Buick’s arsenal against Lexus. The Reatta would be the Lexus SC fighter as a hardtop convertible with factory 19-inch wheels. Oh, I can see it now and it is sweet.

PONTIAC

Man do I miss Pontiac. Being from Michigan, this brand screams Detroit to me. Every time I see a Pontiac, I hear “Shuttin’ Detroit Down” by John Rich playing loudly in my head. Pontiac needs to come back and with a vengeance. By vengeance, I mean DIESEL. Imagine a strong, forceful, turbo-injected motor causing one of their rides to tear up the streets while getting 40+ mpg. Three rides are all they need. Here goes:

G5: Take the Vibe, give it a more aggressive stance with more pronounced wheel wells, add 18-inch rims and keep the sleek lines of the latest model. This could easily compete with the Volkswagen GTI.

S5: This is the revised Solstice — available in both the Roadster and Coupe with 20-inch wheels.

T5: The Torrent brought back with the vengeance I spoke of earlier. Running against the Volkswagen Touareg TDI, this hostile-made sports SUV would also carry 20-inch wheels.

To conclude, we need to polish up Detroit and show the world what America is all about. Quit spending so much money on hydrogen cell technology and use what we know now — just make it better: full-electric motors, biodiesel engines and electric/biodiesel hybrid technology. I’ve seen semi-trucks with electric/biodiesel hybrid engines. Let’s get this stuff in family cars. No more throwing money at unprogressive research hoping to get “first man on the moon” type of accolades. Toyota didn’t develop unheard of technology with their hybrids. They used what they already knew and made it better — and they keep making it better. We can do better than that. We are more than smart enough. We are America.

]]> http://ofyroo.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/what-they-need-to-do/feed/ 0 Albert Samuels ford-gm http://ofyroo.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/jeep/ http://ofyroo.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/jeep/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 05:15:25 +0000 Albert Samuels http://ofyroo.wordpress.com/?p=176 ]]>
This commercial is moving. This is what America needs — a comeback to the reality of John Rich’s song, “Shutting Detroit Down.” Commercials to remind us that we can be the best; that we are the best when are at our best. It’s like this commercial isn’t just for Jeep, it’s inspiration for all American car manufacturers. For so long America has been playing catch-up — coming out with automobiles that rival our foreign competitors and not developing those that our foreign competitors revere. Jeep, however, has never been the runner-up when it comes to ingenuity and tough perceptions. The Hummer is tough, but not as tough as a Jeep Wrangler.

The 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee has won my respect in the SUV category. The only problem, though, is the lack of an alternative fuel engine. Times have changed and we can’t keep producing mainstream-fuel motors. The Ford Escape Hybrid gets mileage in the low 30s. Maybe a hybrid doesn’t quite say Jeep like the folks at Chrysler Corp. wishes it did, but what about diesel? Diesel screams tough. It says, “I will pee all over that gas motor with a battery pack you call a hybrid and take your girl while doing it. Now what?!” It also says fuel efficiency. Just ask Chrysler’s old foster parents, Mercedes. They already have a pretty decent diesel engine in the all-time favorite Sprinter. Although it brings in mpgs in the mid to high 20s [while being a 273-inch utility van mind you], that’s still somewhere around 5 miles more per gallon than the standard Jeep Grand Cherokee engine. As smart as Detroit’s engineers are I am sure that a few tweaks from Chrysler can yield a few more miles per gallon out of that diesel without sacrificing power. Come on, we’re America. We ran trains off of water in the first half of the 20th century. We can do it.

Though the commercial above is amazing, the next Grand Cherokee commercial should be about American families doing typical American family vacation stuff like going to the Grand Canyon while highlighting its better fuel economy than most vehicles in its class. People need to think about SUVs again as a possible family vehicle without reverting to a larger fuel-efficient car like the Toyota Camry. It might not be a perfect motor, but it is better than that of most SUVs.

Good job, Chrysler Corp. If people actually buy the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, you might just have put American sport utes back on the map.

Motor Trend Magazine Editor-in-Chief Angus Mackenzie says the Regal “is the first Buick in history with internationally chic sheetmetal and sophisticated road manners to match,” and that it “is truly likely to appeal to young, affluent, trend-setting import buyers.”

Is it just me, or do the Regal and LaCrosse look just alike? The Regal even uses the LaCrosse’s Epsilon II platform. The only difference is that the Regal’s wheelbase is approximately 4 inches shorter than the LaCrosse. That’s only 6.8 inches shorter overall. Do 6.8 inches actually denote its own segment? Here’s my opinion for Buick… Build the LaCrosse on the extended platform of the  Lucerne , giving it approximately 10 inches in length, and replace the current, not-so-attractive Lucerne with this “new” LaCrosse, enabling it  to compete with the Lexus LS. Finally, GM should increase its price. There is no reason that the LaCrosse and Regal should have the same starting price and no reason for the Lucerne to only be $3K more than both smaller cars.

Buick, do what you know is right for the future of the brand. You don’t have the luxuries of trial and error anymore. Do what you know will make Buick stronger.

For the past 10+ years, Buick has been attempting to reinvent itself — almost in the same way a person would reinvent him or herself — by being patient and consistently saying one thing, “We’re not your grandpa’s Buick anymore.” This method of conveying a message is priceless. In the words of one of Clinton’s advisers, his name slips my mind, and Made To Stick authors, Chip and Dan Heath, “If you say 10 things, you say nothing.” No one is going to remember everything — not even that infomercial guy who says he can skim a book or newspaper and remember subjects and what page they were on. This idea of a hip yet sophisticated Buick is one sticky idea. Let’s look at how Chip and Dan Heath’s Six Principles of Sticky Ideas applies to Buick.

Six Principles of Sticky Ideas

SIMPLICITY

How do we find the essential core of our ideas? Just like any other conclusion to brainstorming meetings, the key players must compile the hottest proposals and find the commonalities of them all — usually, someone noticed it in the first few outbursts. In this case, it was that Buick is, as I stated above, hip yet sophisticated, hence their new slogan, “The New Class of World Class.” This might seem easy, but it leads me to the next point.

UNEXPECTEDNESS

How do we get our audience to pay attention to our ideas, and how do we maintain their interest when we need time to get the ideas across? The concept must destroy preconceived notions. This forces people to stop, think, and remember. Being hip yet sophisticated was, in fact, unexpected from Buick. Though they weren’t always an automobile for Seniors (remember the sporty 2-seater Reatta or the extremely fast and luxurious Riviera?), that is what they had become — at least in the US. Buick could have kept that demographic, but they chose to do something out of the ordinary by becoming a major competitor with Lexus.

CONCRETENESS

How do we make our ideas clear? First, find out who your target market is. Second, find out what they do and how they communicate. Third, talk to them the way they talk to each other. Last, don’t say too much. Too many words will more than likely confuse someone or will be misconstrued.

CREDIBILITY

How do we make people believe our ideas? With most manufacturers — the product doesn’t matter for this point — they have to simply develop a product that does what they say it does. It doesn’t have to be the very best, but if if doesn’t do what they say it can do, people will be upset. In some cases, they will be openly hostile, which means they’ll actively try to dispute your message!

EMOTIONS

How do we get people to care about our ideas? Appeal to emotional needs. Everyone is self-conscious about something to one degree or another. Don’t get me wrong, no one should abuse that, but looking good and being paid attention to makes people feel good and playing to that can be golden. Everyone needs to feel comforted as well — especially in a car and especially if you’ve been in a car accident — and Buick has commercials for that also. Every car company likes to tote their security features.

STORIES

How do we get people to act on our ideas? Telling a story gets people to pay closer attention and feel more connected. To sum this up in two words… great commercials.

All-in-all, if you take these ingredients and put it into one bowl, you’re bound to make something sweet.

Click image to play video.

First things first, this post is in no way bashing other automobile manufacturers. My father [and mother-in-law] worked for General Motors for over 30 years and honorably retired without being forced out or slighted due to poor management. I will forever be greatful to him and his great work ethic and the company that provided the best of benefits to our family. This post is, however, celebrating the smart decisions that Ford and its president, Alan Mulally, have made since 2006 when Mulally was hired as CEO.

I have never lead a Fortune 500 company, but I have been in leadership positions. I know for a fact that in order to lead a team, you first want to get them all on the same page, on your page. If you have too many people to do so, you influence the decision-makers — they’ll take care of the rest. Alan Mulally did just that. He wrote a new corporate mission statement, placed it on plastic cards, and passed it out to the necessary employees. Moreover, he gets to work earlier and works longer than most CEOs of his stature. And the most newsworthy thing is that, unlike the other American motor companies, Ford has enough economic stability to withstand the economic downturn, because of Mulally’s decisions, and chose not take the government bailout money that the others have taken.

Mulally seems to know what it takes to build strong brands and an even stronger company to back them. Before General Motors terminated some of its divisions, Mulally decided to sale Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo (pending, I believe) and let Mercury dissolve so that he and the rest of the company could focus on the more important Ford and Lincoln brands. My favorite thing he ever said, after finding out that the Taurus had been phased out, was, “Well, you’ve got until tomorrow to find a vehicle to put the Taurus name on because that’s why I’m here. Then you have two years to make the coolest vehicle that you can possibly make.” On top of that, he has moved to consolidate many of Ford’s global automotive platforms and eliminate unnecessary available options offered to the car buyer. That’s what I call a decision-maker! Now only if they could just capitalized on this and get America on their side.

This is the time for Ford to make known to the public that they didn’t take the bailout, that they will strongly compete with foreign car companies, mainly Toyota, and that they plan on being around for a long time. Ford should change their US slogan from “Ford. Bold moves.” or “Built for the road ahead.” or even “Built Ford Tough” to something that communicates that they are the American motor company with Americans in mind. In concordance, to send the message that they do actually build “Ford Tough” products, Ford should offer its car buyers a better “America’s Best Warranty” than Hyundai — one that has unlimited miles and 15 years worth of powertrain protection. CEO Mulally is a obviously wise man and I am sure that given the time he will instill in America trust in his company. Whether it’s with a new slogan or CEO-focused, Sprint-like commercials, Ford’s image will be revamped and the company will prevail.