Word: astone
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...year. Analysts hailed Fields as the next Carlos Ghosn--the executive who led Nissan's dramatic turnaround. Fields' bosses at Ford, which owns a controlling stake in Mazda, were so impressed that they handed him a bigger job: turbocharging Ford's troubled Premier Automotive Group (PAG), made up of Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo...
...turnaround fell to Brooklyn, N.Y.-born Fields, 41, the Harvard M.B.A. who revamped Mazda's lineup with models like his red RX-7 sport coupe. Last month Ford, which controls Mazda, asked Fields to work his magic on its lagging Premier Automotive Group, which makes Volvos, Jaguars, Aston Martins and Land Rovers...
...like electronics. Says Harry Roegner, PAG spokesman: "Electronic architecture makes up a third of the cost of a car, and in the future it will be 50%. Do you see that cabling and wiring?" In another economy move, Ford is consolidating the backroom operations of Land Rover, Jaguar and Aston Martin...
...range divided among four brands. Reitzle says his products fit into every premium niche and still retain their exclusivity. While competitors are stretching - and possibly overstretching - their brands from the top to the bottom of the premium market, PAG can use Volvo to tap the (relatively) lower end while Aston Martin caters to the very wealthiest buyers...
...Aston Martin, James Bond's favorite sports car, currently starts at $150,000 but is planning an "entry level" model - at $92,000. As for the other PAG marques, Jaguar turned a profit of $100 million last year, its first since Ford acquired it in 1989, and sales are improving. Volvo, the family car of choice, made $700 million and remains the group's workhorse. Indeed, Ford is a quintessential American company that grew huge by creating the mass automobile market. Ironically, its future now rests in large part with a handful of low-volume, élitist cars made...