Word: auto
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Will the new designs be enough to stop the rot? Ford Motor's share of the U.S. auto and truck market has been steadily declining, from 24.1% in 2000 to 17.4% last year, while GM's shrank from 28.3% to 26.2%. To put that into perspective, Ford last year made 3.15 million vehicles, although it has the infrastructure to make 3.9 million, by Harbour Consulting's calculations. That kind of capacity utilization--79%--is hideously inefficient. The company's stock price has fallen 39% in a year--wiping out more than $10 billion in shareholder value...
Bill Ford was never particularly comfortable with his country-club world, anyway. His father William Clay Ford, brother of longtime chairman Henry II, chaired Ford Motor's finance committee and bought the Detroit Lions. His mother Martha Parke Firestone (yes, that Firestone) was already an auto blueblood. Although educated at the élite institutions of Hotchkiss and Princeton, Bill was especially interested in labor and what working people do. His passions tended toward sports, American history and the environment. His parents hoped he would not grow up a snob, and his mother drove him across town to play hockey...
...skeptics still call Ford a hypocrite. Some environmentalists challenge him for producing huge, smog-spewing trucks. Ford counters that his job is to make the company as environmentally sound as possible while making a profit. The new F-250 Super Chief concept truck, unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show in January, epitomizes the company's dual mission: the gigantic, superdeluxe truck is equipped with everything big, including brown leather club chairs and flat-screen TVs. The surprise is that it is designed to run on any one of three fuels: hydrogen, a mixture of 85% ethyl alcohol or gasoline...
...aide, instructing him to get to the hospital and cover all expenses. Over the following days, he attended funerals and stayed close to the family members. "That was something you don't see from most CEOs," says Walter (Jeff) Washington, president of Local 900 of the United Auto Workers. "It really touched people...
Profits may be scarce in Detroit, but it's a bountiful time in design, judging by the new products for the 2007 model-year. Carmakers plan to launch more than 60 vehicles, starting next month, swelling auto malls with all manner of compacts, coupes, wagons, minivans, muscle cars and SUVs. For manufacturers, producing a car that stands out is getting tougher every year. And as Ford and GM are painfully aware, if your metal doesn't shine in the style department--and you can't beat your rivals on performance or reliability--all you can offer is a cut-rate...