Word: knudsen
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...auto annals, there are few switches of allegiance that even come close to equaling Knudsen's. In 1946, Ernest Breech, a former G.M. vice president, left the presidency of Bendix Aviation -then partially controlled by G.M.-to become Ford's executive vice president. And then there was Knudsen's father, William S. ("Big Bill") Knudsen, who switched in the opposite direction, from Ford to G.M.-but that was early in his career...
Blocked Promotion. The record clearly belongs to Bunkie* Knudsen, 55. After 29 years as a G.M. executive, he was earning some $481,000 a year as boss of domestic nonauto and all over seas operations. But he was keenly disappointed at his failure to win G.M.'s presidency last fall. Instead, his only obvious rival, Edward N. Cole, 58, won the job that Knudsen had coveted and courted for most of his life. Cole's ascension meant not only that Knudsen's road to promotion was blocked for at least another four years; it also meant that...
While hiding his unhappiness in public, Knudsen told G.M. Chairman James Roche and a few close friends that he would probably leave the auto industry or "look for another assignment" inside it. Word soon got to Henry Ford II, who started the nation's most audacious executive raid in years. "Sure I did it," Ford said last week. "Nobody but me-so I have to take the credit...
Ford moved with secrecy and circumspection. A month ago, while Knudsen was still on G.M.'s payroll, Ford telephoned him at home and hinted at the presidency. "I made no commitment," recalled Knudsen last week, "nor were any details worked out. Then I told Mr. Roche that I had been approached." The next Saturday, Ford drove to Knudsen's home in Bloomfield Hills, and there the deal was clinched. Knudsen then phoned Roche. "He wished me well," says Knudsen, "and hoped we could be friendly competitors -and I assured him we could...
...another two weeks, while Knudsen wound up his affairs at General Motors and Ford called a directors' meeting to approve his decision, the arrangements remained one of autodom's best-kept secrets. Ford shuffled able but colorless President Arjay Miller, 51, to the new post of vice chairman. As such, Miller will run Ford's finances, legal department, public relations, Washington staff and long-range planning. Knudsen, as chief operating officer, will not only control sales, product development and plant operations, but will also assume full command of the company when Chairman and Chief Executive Ford...