Word: knudsen
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...keep some underlings under firm control, notably the brilliant but impulsive Lee lacocca, 43, who heads Ford's North American automotive operations. lacocca (TIME cover, April 17, 1964) had been widely regarded as a candidate for the Ford presidency. Now, he presumably faces a decade of waiting under Knudsen-and one of Detroit's current speculations is what...
Reversing History. When Henry Ford presented his prize catch to newsmen, he recalled the precedent set by Bunkie's father. Big Bill Knudsen had worked for ten years at Ford, rising to production manager, before he quit in 1921 after Henry Ford I had rejected his advice to abandon the Model T and broaden Ford's one-product line. Moving shortly to General Motors as vice president of Chevrolet, Knudsen gave Chevrolet the pickup that put it ahead of Ford. His reward was G.M.'s presidency. "Today," said Henry Ford II, "the flow of history is reversed...
...Bunkie Knudsen cautiously allowed, "only time will tell" if he can reverse Chevrolet's lead. He likes to remember one of the few pieces of advice his father gave him: "In this business, the competition will bite you if you keep running; if you stand still, they will swallow you." Bunkie Knudsen has been mostly running ever since the day in 1927 when his father announced that he could have a new Chevrolet if he would stop by the plant. Bunkie, 14, found the car waiting-in several thousand pieces. "It took me a couple of months...
...Knudsen worked for 106 G.M. plants before, at 43, he was made boss of the drooping Pontiac Division. His first move was to order styling changes on the 1957 model to rid Pontiac of its "grandma" image-something that few automen would have dared just 60 days away from volume production. Off came two pieces of chrome across the hood and trunk lid-no matter that his fa ther had introduced them in 1935. Next, Knudsen reached for what the youth of the day wanted. He brought out a 21 in. wider and flashier model to appeal to young drivers...
...Knudsen missed the presidency because of General Motors' tradition of always having at least two men ready to take over every job. And Ed Cole, three years his senior, with many of the same qualifications, had, after all, run Chevrolet and become an executive vice president before...