Mulally says Ford races the clock, unsure about the turnaround

When Alan Mulally came over to Ford from Boeing to take charge of the sinking auto maker, many were unsure about whether he’d be able to turn the company around. Well Mulally sort of feels the same way. In a recent sit down with Automotive News, Mulally said that FoMoCo is in a “race against the clock,” and he has no idea whether Ford will win.

When Automotive News, asked Mulally that “Now that you’ve been here for a year, is it going to be OK?”

To which Mulally replied: “Don’t know “” race against the clock. Are we working on the right things? Absolutely. I’ve been there. I’ve seen this movie. I performed well in it. I know exactly what to do. Do we have enough time? No idea.”

Mulally has helped Ford mortgage most of its assets for a $23.4 billion dollar package. Now critics worry whether Ford will come out of the water before money and time runs out. Mulally says he has no time to worry about running out of time.

“The more you worry about worrying, as opposed to worrying about doing, then you’re going to put this at risk,” he said, slapping a piece of paper on which he’d sketched elements of his turnaround plan. “So let’s just do the goddamn plan.”

Mulally projects that Ford will make a profit in 2009 when the North American unit is back on its feet. So far Ford’s turnaround plan consists of cutting about 14,000 white-collar jobs, trimming up to 30,000 manufacturing jobs by the end of 2008 and closing 16 North American plants.

How about cutting down some of that useless lineup? Stop having confidence in Mercury Mulally. It’s a dead brand.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)