One of the most widely admired CEOs in the automotive industry is FoMoCo‘s Alan Mulally, the former Boeing CEO, who came to Detroit in 2006 to turnaround Ford.

But Mulally is now hitting 66, which means Ford’s board of directors is now considering a successor, even if his departure form the position is uncertain. Mulally, who seems happy and healthy to stay at Ford, will probably do just that until he decides to step down.

“He continues to do well,” said one former Ford executive, adding a statement from Executive Chairman Bill Ford that Mulally “can continue to stay there as long as he wants.”

Nonetheless, there will eventually be a successor for Mulally and there are at least four candidates for his position:

• Mark Fields: 50, president of the Americas, currently the front-runner.
• Lewis Booth: CFO, 63. Booth might be the choice if Mulally were to retire soon.
• Jim Farley: 49, group vice president of global marketing, sales and service.
• Joe Hinrichs: 45, group vice president of Ford Asia Pacific and Africa.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: Automotive News

Ford Motor Company’s CEO Alan Mulally will be making an appearance for the first time on network television CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman.” He will be joining the famous late night talk show host along with actress Emma Stone, who’s also promoting her new movie “The Help.”

Letterman will be interviewing Mulally and discussing interest in electric cars and Ford’s efforts in a culturally relevant manner, said Karen Hampton, a spokeswoman for FoMoCo.

Mulally also plans to talk about Ford’s future and expansion of their electric car lineup, which includes three new models by the end of 2011.

So be sure to tune in to your local CBS channel at 11:35 pm to catch tonight’s Late Show featuring Alan Mulally.

- By: Chris Chin

Source: Detroit News

Following my expression of patriotism in my fourth of July editorial, there shouldn’t be any surprise to the current success and rise of the American automobile industry. But to further support their efforts, AutoNation, the largest automotive retailer in the US of A, announced that it has high expectations for the Detroit Three’s gain in market share for the second straight year in a row.

After having sold 50% of the new cars and trucks in the US, GM, Ford and Chrysler’s market share has gained significantly over the Japanese manufacturers from that giant quake in March. This should come to no surprise.

Some analysts say that it will take at least until the end of the summer before Toyota, Honda, and Nissan get entirely back on their feet.

- By: Chris Chin

Source: Detroit News

FoMoCo’s CEO Alan Mulally has been named the 2011 Chief Executive of the Year by Chief Executive magazine. The honor is given to a corporate leader by a group of his or her peers.

“The success he showed in the face of incredible difficulty was just extraordinary,” said James Turley, chairman and CEO, Ernst & Young and member of the 2011 Selection Committee. “The foresight he showed throughout the process, the courage he showed in making some tough decisions on popular brands, the global mindset he showed, and above all, the statesmanship he showed when two major competitors were on the public dole shows he was thinking for the good of the country as well as his company and industry.”

Prior CEO of the Year winners include Bill Gates, Jack Welch, Michael Dell, A.G. Lafley, John Chambers, Anne Mulcahy, Larry Bossidy, Andy Grove and Herb Kelleher.

“The turnaround and triumph of Ford is an amazing success story, due largely to his talents, leadership and courage,” said Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant and 2010 CEO of the Year. “It’s a turnaround not only of an American icon but more importantly, a global icon, as well.”

- By: Omar Rana

In a presentation today to financial analysts led by Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally, FoMoCo said that it expects its worldwide sales to go up by approximately 50 percent by mid-decade to 8 million vehicles on an annual basis. Ford will use its One Ford plan to accelerate product introductions and expand quickly in growth markets.

Ford said that it is well positioned to grow profitably and expects industry-wide vehicle sales to rise substantially by 2015.

“Ford is a growing company operating in a growing global automotive market,” Mulally said. “Through our One Ford plan, we are increasing our product investments to meet this growing demand with a full family of best-in-class products.”

By 2014, Ford said that more than 140 percent of the company’s global product portfolio will be new or significantly refreshed compared with 2009. Small vehicles are expected to represent about 55 percent of Ford’s total vehicle sales by 2020, with nearly one-third of sales in 2020 coming from Asia Pacific Africa due to significant growth.

Operating margins are expected to increase to 8 to 9 percent from 6.1 percent in 2010. North America operating margin at mid-decade is expected to be in the 8 percent to 10 percent range.

Ford will pay down an additional $2.3 billion of the term loans under its secured credit facility by the second quarter of 2011.

“We will continue to focus on maintaining healthy, growing operating margins and creating long-term value,” said Lewis Booth, Ford executive vice president and chief financial officer. “Maintaining adequate cash to support and grow the business and reducing our debt are essential steps we are taking to achieve and solidify a world-class balance sheet.”

- By: Omar Rana

Alan Mulally, one of the greatest leaders the automotive has seen, has no plans to retire anytime soon. However, when Mulally does decide to pack his bags and leave his job as CEO of Ford Motor Company, his successor will most likely come from within the company’s top ranked executives, said Executive Chairman Bill Ford.

“Part of my job is to look everywhere” when picking a CEO, Bill said, “but I really like our talent and would be surprised if we didn’t pick someone from inside.”

Mullaly, who turns 66 in August, became Ford’s president and CEO in Sept. 2007. Mulally “is very energetic, doing a great job obviously,” Bill said. “He’s having fun and really loving this.” Mulally has always included a large group of his executive team in weekly meetings where all key information and issues are addressed. Bill said that has helped train the next-generation for larger responsibilities.

“It used to be to develop as a general manager, you would come up through a silo like manufacturing, and then very, very late in your career, you’d be dropped somewhere else and hoping that you could scale up,” he said.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: Free press

A little while ago, the egmCarTech crew had the chance to first-handedly get a glimpse of Ford’s new MyFord Touch center console control system that relies solely on the occupant’s touch for action. Needless to say, despite the cars being preproduction samples, we found the system to be rather glitchy. We were hoping Ford would iron the kinks out for its production models to keep its J.D. Power & Associate’s title for being the top mainstream brand with fewest defects. Unfortunately however, this time around Ford received a “mixed” performance rating, which didn’t fly kindly with CEO Alan Mulally.

“We have just a few issues with some of the newer technologies associated with Sync and MyFord Touch,” Mulally told reporters, referring to the voice-activated and touch-screen communication system found in examples like the new Edge and Explorer. “It’ll be a lot like consumer electronics where we’ll rapidly bring innovation, but also continue to improve it.

The biggest culprit to the “mixed” performance review was towards Ford’s touch controls. Not surprised here. Consumer Reports in the June issue ranked the completely new Explorer 17th out of 19 ranked mid-sized SUVs and called the touch controls “complicated and distracting.

“We’ve heard of screens blanking out,” said the vice president of research at J.D. Power, David Sargent. “Ford has a concern about how they will perform based on their own data. They’re making an early warning to the market that this may be a problem.” Sargent is also responsible for the Initial Quality Survey.

Another comment made towards the Dearborn make was against the cars’ rather high wind-noise levels. Ford said that they’re responding with a $100 million investment in laser-guided robots to help improve assembly and thus, reduce the noise levels.

It should be noted however that Ford has been aiming to be a technology leader ever since the introduction of their Microsoft Sync and Sony-based MyTouch system debuted a couple years ago. And as a result, new technology in their first renditions can be a little problematic. This was exactly seen nearly a decade ago when BMW introduced their iDrive system in the E65 7er. So Ford should’ve expected the same. But because it has been around for nearly 10 years and many other manufacturers have adopted the concept, BMW and other companies has been able to and continues to iron out the functionality of its iDrive. And I have no doubt Ford will either as Mulally said that these issues are critical.

- By: Chris Chin

Source: Bloomberg

FoMoCo’s CEO Alan Mulally recently headed out to Capitol Hill to meet with legislators and other government officials of the Obama Administration. During his visit, Mullay told Capitol Hill legislators that multiple U.S. standards put a burden on automakers and consumers.

“We’re not talking about specific numbers,” Mulally told reporters at the Capitol after meeting with more than a dozen House members.

Ford’s Mulally said that he was pushing for a “unified standard across all the states.”

Mullay also had a meeting with Bill Daley, the White House chief of staff, and David Plouffe, senior adviser to Barack Obama. According to a Ford’s spokeswoman, Mulally visit was a ”regular check-in meetings with government officials where (Mulally) will underscore the importance of American manufacturing to the U.S. economy.”

During his meeting with House members, Mulally said that if the Congress is serious about pushing alternative energy policies, the effort needs to be unified behind one technology. The move will allow automakers to be easily innovative, Mulally said.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: Detroit News

FoMoCo CEO Alan Mulally is rolling in money – literally. The Dearborn automaker’s head made $1.74 million on Friday by exercising and selling some performance-based stock options. According to a filing today with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mulally bought 250,000 shares at $8.28 and sold them for $15.25.

The options, which were a part of Mulally’s September 2006 hiring package, were set to expire August 31.The $1.74 million payout is a part of a four performance thresholds that each trigger the ability to excursive 250,000 share stock options. The first part of that was achieved in 2010 where Ford stock passed $15 a share for 30 days – which was the option Mulally cashed in on.

The $1.74 million does not represent new compensation for the CEO whose 2010 compensation rose 50 percent to $26.5 million.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: Detroit News

Ford CEO Alan Mulally - GM CEO Dan Akerson

Update: Chrysler has just released its report for April 2011 and said retail were sales up 37%, compared with the same period a year ago. April marks the 13th-consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains.

Helped by strong retail sales of new fuel-efficient models, American automakers Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Company posted an increase in April sales.

“Consumer demand for Ford’s fuel-efficient vehicles continues to grow, with April sales increasing 16 percent versus a year ago and year-to-date sales up 16 percent – totaling 686,498 vehicles,” Ford said in a statement.

“With gasoline prices eclipsing $3.90 a gallon, consumers are placing an even higher priority on fuel efficiency in every size and kind of vehicle,” said Ken Czubay, Ford vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service. “Ford’s plan to lead in fuel efficiency is saving our customers money at the pump and helping us to profitably grow our business.”

General Motors said that it sold 232,538 vehicles in April – a 27 percent increase when compared to the same period a year ago.

“Solid gains by GM’s lineup of fuel-efficient passenger cars and crossovers powered the gains, led by the best sales month for the Chevrolet Cruze and record sales for the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain compact crossovers,” GM said.

“Recently, rising fuel prices have led many to re-think their vehicle choice,” said Don Johnson, vice president, U.S. Sales Operations. “Because of the investments we’ve made in fuel-efficiency and global product architectures, the company is well positioned to meet these needs.”

- By: Omar Rana

Ford CEO Alan Mulally with Executive Chairman Bill Ford

FoMoCo’s President and CEO Alan Mulally was paid $26.5 million while Executive Chairman Bill Ford received $26.4 million in salary bonus and long-term stock options and awards in 2010. The pay packages are by far the industry’s most lucrative ones.

Both Mulally and Bill Ford received salaries of $1.4 million for 2010. Mulally received a $9.45 million cash bonus, stock awards valued at $7.49 million and stock options valued at $7.5 million. He also received $678,029 in other compensations.

Ford earned $6.6 billion in 2010, up from $2.7 billion in 2009.

The pay packages that Ford disclosed today are in addition of the stock awards Mulally and Bill Ford received last month. For Mulally that stock award comes in at $56.5 million before taxes, while Ford was given a stock award valued at $42.4 million before taxes.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: Free Press

FoMoCo CEO - Alan Mulally

In the third annual Financial Times ArcelorMittal Boldness in Business Awards, FoMoCo’s President and CEO Alan Mulally has been named the Person of the Year.

To be recognized as the Persona of the Year, individuals must challenge the status quo and take calculated risks to drive their company’s business forward in the face of current economic uncertainty. Mulally was commended for the turnaround of Ford to emerge from the financial crisis with sustained profitability. Financial Times also pointed out that Ford as a company did not rely on government bailout and is the most profitable car company in North America.

“This is the third year of the FT ArcelorMittal Boldness in Business Awards and while the market remains undeniably challenging our shortlisted companies and individuals have displayed an inspiring ability to innovate and drive change,” said Lionel Barber, editor, Financial Times. “I would like to congratulate all of the winners for their dedication and boldness in driving their businesses above and beyond the competition.”

- By: Omar Rana

Alan Mulally - CEO, Ford Motor Company

United Auto Workers President Bob King thinks that FoMoCo CEO’s pay package is a little to extreme. King said that Mulally’s lucrative pay package was ‘morally wrong’ over the fact that the Dearborn automaker’s CEO received stock worth about $54.5 million from the company.

Mulally, who is greatly responsible for the turnaround of Ford, received 3.8 million shares of stock earlier this month for meeting performance goals set by the company two years ago.

“I think Alan Mulally is a great CEO, but I don’t think any human being in the world deserves that much money. I think it’s outrageous,” said King, “I like Alan Mulally. But I just think it’s morally wrong.”

What do you guys think? Is Mulally overpaid? Let us know in the comments section after the jump.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: CNNMoney

Alan Mullaly with the 2012 Ford Focus

With the national average price of gasoline north of $3.50 per gallon, FoMoCo CEO Alan Mulally says that his company is in a much better position to withstand the fallout that rising fuel prices bring upon the industry than it was three years ago, when gas prices broke $4.00 per gallon.

Mulally admitted that the company didn’t expect prices to rise so rapidly, but also stated that Ford is “positioned with the right product line now.”

The company is now offering more small and mid-size vehicles that offer wider sales appeal in the face of rising prices. Among those vehicles are the Ford Fiesta and Ford Focus.

- By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Detroit News

Ford CEO Alan Mulally with Executive Chairman Bill Ford

FoMoCo’s CEO Alan Mulally and Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr., are going to be partying hard this coming weekend. According to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, Mulally was awarded stock worth $56.5 million before taxes, while Bill Ford got stock worth $42.4 million.

Of course, Mulally’s compensation is well worth it since the Dearborn automaker was in a financial peril when he took over in 2006.

In 2010, Ford made $6.6 billion, making it the company’s best years since 1999. Sales were up almost 20 percent.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: MSNBC

Alan Mulally and Mike Rowe with the 2011 Ford Explorer

FoMoCo President and CEO Alan Mulally has been at the reigns for almost five years now, and much if what he set out to do has been achieved. His employment contract however, does not set out a finite term of service, and this leaves investors with questions about Ford’s plan for his successor, when the time comes. Though Mulally is still going strong at 65, Wall Street is always concerned with what is to come next.

“The rational investor would like to get the sense that there is a process in place,” said Brian Johnson, a Wall Street analyst with Barclays Capital. “This is the hallmark of strong, well-run companies.”

Mulally has rigorously worked to expand the skills of Ford’s brass, and most execs ar enow regarded as being qualified to step in. One of the reasons however that this remains a sticking point with the public, is that Ford’s recent success seems to be tied – at east in the public eye – to Mulally and his star power.

Ford must now lay the groundwork for a succession plan, without upsetting the chemistry that Mulally has in place there, which would definitely stifle progress.

- By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Freep

Ford Vertrek Concept

No surprise to us but Ford’s CEO Alan Mulally has confirmed that the Euro-design Vertrek Concept will give the company ‘a great opportunity’ to unify its two C-segment SUVs – the Kuga and the Escape.

The next-generation Ford Escape and Kuga will hit the markets in mid to late 2012 and both will adopt the look of the Vertrek Concept.

The Kuga will take the look of the Vertrek and get larger rear-seat and luggage capacity. Ford’s U.S. Escape, which is long overdue for a redesign, will also follow a similar plan.

The unification of both models is the latest move in Mulally’s ‘One Ford’ plan.

2011 Detroit: Ford Vertrek Concept:

All Photos Copyright © 2010 Omar Rana – egmCarTech.

Ford Vertrek Concept:

- By: Omar Rana

Source: AutoCar

Ford CEO Alan Mulally with Executive Chairman Bill Ford

While popular Detroit CEO Alan Mulally has no plans to retire soon, Ford apparently has a lot of internal talent needed to hire the next chief from within the company, Executive Chairman Bill Ford said.

In an interview with Reuters, Bill said that Mulally has groomed a strong team of potential successors for whenever he decides to retire his position. Many analysts have shown concern over how Bill will handle the transition to a new CEO after Mulally, who is well known for steering the Dearborn automaker back to strength after its near-collapse in 2006.

“I think I wouldn’t be doing my job if I said we would never look outside,” Ford said. “But I’m really happy with the talent that we have here and the way that Alan has developed that talent and brought them along.”

Bill, 53, said he has no intention to return to the CEO post, which he stepped down from when he hired Mulally.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: MSNBC