Ye Olde Wiktionary defines "gee-up" as an English/Australian expression meaning "to excite in order to try to achieve a desired result." Ken Elias has never knowingly geed-up anyone about anything. But it's still true that his Ford Death Watch identified one of FoMoCo CEO Alan Mulally's most important jobs: getting the [remaining] executives lathered-up about the company's forthcoming products and, thus, the automaker's chances of survival. Yahoo! Finance reports that The Blue Oval Boyz have arranged seat time for the suits. "Last week, Ford started pulling around 4,000 workers from their desks at sites near the Dearborn headquarters and onto a test track for a few hours of driving and learning about how Ford hopes to set its vehicles apart from other automakers." So, how did they like the European Fiesta and Focus? Uh, well… "Most of the vehicles the workers were able to drive were 2009 or 2010 models of cars and trucks currently on the market, a vehicle lineup that for the most part hasn't sold well this year." A turbo-MKS was as good as it got.
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Isn’t it the customer who needs to be “gee’d-up” (“gee-up’d” ?)
It’s always amusing to read of these internal, “spirit building” efforts that automakers are using to improve their products, because they’re always focused on showing employees their own products and nothing else.
We recently read a story of a GM exec who refused to drive a rental that was non-GM. In some ways, I think that we’d get some better domestic products if employees and management of the big 2.8 were required to drive nothing but their competitors’ models.
Supposedly, when Robert McNamara was president of Ford he rented an Opel station wagon (at his own expense) when his family took a European trip some time around 1960. This appalled the local distributor, who had met him at the airport with a big, shiny new Ford for him to use at his disposal, but McNamara apparently wanted to evaluate the pros and cons of certain features that GM was building into its Euro-compacts of the era. May have been a smart move, because while the Ford Falcon was not particularly exciting or innovative, it was reliable and handily outsold the Corvair and the Valiant.
When you use your own products as your yardstick, you run the real risk of never get any better than the best you’re currently producing.
Buzzdog,
I like the story about Mr McNamara. It’s that kind of thinking which gives you the edge over your competitors (though, he was on holiday and should have left his work at home!).
Personally, I don’t know why Ford execs need rallying.
Ford are in the best position to be the last man standing in Detroit and actually have some good products (at least, by NA standards) coming (albeit, not quickly enough).
Not to mention, they have the best CEO of the big 2.801 so their chances look favourable.
I think Ford concentrate less on beating Japan (they’re not in a good enough position for that…..yet!) and concentrate more on burying the two other Detroiters. I know this sounds harsh, but think about it.
I’d estimate that a lot of GM and Chrysler’s customers are die-hard “Buy American” folk. If Ford focused (see what I did there?) on winning these customers over, then Ford could achieve the economies of scale needed to sell cars at a profitable rate. Then, with a little steady organic growth (Mr Mullaly’s speciality) in about 5 years’ time Ford will be ready to take Japan on again. Only this time the match will be more even.
It’ll be bad news for GM and Chrysler (especially Chrysler, I REALLY wanted them to be the last man standing) but the more time goes on, the more I believe that Detroit isn’t big enough for 2.801. Someone has to go……permanently…..
I read the other day that Ford was spending extra money on bringing over the European Fiesta to redisign some electronic gizmo because American’s like their remote door locks to beep and Europeans don’t. Had any Ford Exec ever driven a recent GM product they would have noticed that the driver can turn the beep on and off with a few button clicks. I was shocked that apparently they didn’t know this. They were bragging that they even noticed the difference in preference. I now feel guilty being an American that doesn’t like the beep.
Being in b2b sales as I am, this piece and the comments caught my attention.
I can understand why some are questioning the validity of Ford’s exercise; after all, getting the suits rev’d up about poor selling models does sound all that exciting or useful when the public appears to be the prime target.
In sales, you have to believe in your own product, and the drones at the bottom are going to be more likely to be inspired if their leadership is inspired.
Why am I not driving the cool looking car in the picture above…? Oh, that’s right, I’m in Canada – only pickup trucks and SUV’s allowed!
Ford, down deep, you must hate us…well, I’m going to hate you right back.
Got to go now and put gas the wife’s Acura.
Gee-up as a term was used in Blighty to get a horse moving from stop to walk, then from walk to trot, etc. Usually a reluctant horse.
Meanwhile, I think the idea of getting the suits at Ford to actually drive the ordinary vehicles they make is a damn fine idea. I can imagine the turned-up noses as the lords of respective fiefdoms had to drive a Focus instead of a Town Car. Gee-up! Gee-up! Mullaly should make them drive one all the time, then you might see improvements rather than bent tin cost-cutting and flappy tape wiring looms.
Imagine how government services would improve if the execs had to try out their own procedures, like applying for unemployment benefits… But then, who ever heard of a government employee losing their job?
Difference here is, the Ford Lords might lose theirs if they don’t gee-up their design procedures.
Somehow, I don’t see the Ford team burning up the track in a base Ranger.
KatiePuckrik : Ford are in the best position to be the last man standing in Detroit and actually have some good products (at least, by NA standards) coming (albeit, not quickly enough).
Damning with faint praise. Regardless, Katie said something nice about Ford. Civilization begins to unravel….
How’s this for “gee upping” your managers: If we make a profit, you can keep your jobs. If they do not understand that, then gee up them out the door.
If I ran a car company, I would require my executives to only rent my competitor’s cars. They need to see what the customers are seeing.