Outgoing Ford CEO Alan Mullaly appeared at his final annual investors meeting in Wilmington, Del. to a standing ovation from shareholders, proclaiming he had “no regrets” about his eight-year service at the helm.
Bloomberg reports Mullaly, who will pass the torch to upcoming CEO Mark Fields July 1, said he would “always be very pleased and very proud” of all he accomplished at Ford, confident that Fields and the rest of the leadership team under the One Ford management system — built with help from Fields — would be able to take the Blue Oval to the next level.
During his tenure, Mullaly saw Ford earn $42.3 billion over the past five years after losing $30.1 billion in the two years leading to the 2008 automotive industry crash and the Great Recession. In addition, U.S. sales in 2013 rose 11 percent on the strength of products such as the F-Series, Escape and Fusion, while outselling Toyota in China.
As for Fields, executive chairman Bill Ford Jr. stated that nothing would change beyond who would be sitting in the CEO’s office:
Typically what’s happened is the new CEO always feels like they have to chart a new direction, I’ve seen that many, many times and that’s confusing to an organization. Because Mark has been an architect of the direction that we’re going, there is going to be a continuation and a continuation of the culture.
He shouldn’t…. Ford is doing the best out of the big 3 by far. Look at Chrysler for example.
Not sure if serious.
@Truckducken
>mfw he’s full of it
>mfw I have no face
No regrets at all? Not even MyFord Touch?
No viable replacement for the Ranger. Moving Lincoln down market instead of letting Ford span upward to fill the Mercury void. Dubious effort in China. Electric vehicle development that’s run like a secret society. Powershift DCT…
Don’t even get me started on the 737 lawn darts.
@Pig_Iron,
A lot of unanswered questions, let us wait a year or two to see how ford is traveling.
Replacement for the Ranger is available and selling well in all parts of the world. The problem here is that it pretty much has been shown here, by Pch and others., that there is either no business case for it or Americans don’t want no stinkin’ “compact” trucks.
Your loss.
@Marcelo de Vasconcellos,
Not Really selling that well and you have Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi about to debut new models.
Tell that to the people in Brazil and neighboring countries. Only outsold by S10. Mitsubishi and Nissan are no threats here. The new Hilux has talento much too long. and has really forfeitted some of its market.
@Marcelo de Vasconcellos,
Outsold by a much longer list in Asia and the new Hilux, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Mazda and Isuzu? will have an impact.
the Ford Ranger is by the best of the compact 4,400lb trucks out there
big 3.2 litre 5 cyl diesel that does monumental power and torque
6 spd automatic transmission
very car like interior and handling
its is superior in just about every way to antiquated toyotas and mitsus
it is beaten by the even more epic Nissan Navara twin turbo V6 but that kills everything
too bad about useless Ford dealers and how they treat $50,000 2nd class truck owners
If someone paid 50k for a ford ranger, I, like the dealer wouldn’t be able to not have a good laugh at them.
Hummer, Tony JZX is not referring to USD or the American market.
That would be ~47,000 US dollars
I don’t understand why we don’t have the new Ranger here. I’ve made monthly trips to Brasil the last two years and can’t believe what a great vehicle this would be in the US as an alternative to the full sized truck albatrosses we have as options. What are they afraid of bringing it here, and I don’t want to hear about the tax/import costs. This thing would sell at a dealership. Is it because it would eat away the Escape/CUV/SUV sales vs the Ranger extended cab platform?
@TCowner,
It would eat away at F150 sales or other US produced Fords. So not going to be imported. As you say it is an impressive vehicle, but would cannibalize Fords existing US Lineup.
Well “One Ford” gets stranger their a Four different “Ford Transits”. Two only available in Europe.
Don’t forget their outstanding performance on recent quality surveys.
real rangers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Ranger_(T6)
not rubbish that hasnt been sold on the LHD market for nigh on 3yrs+
Tomifobia, I bet Mulally regrets having to give up the Lexus he drove before joining Ford. No doubt that is one of the pleasures he will get for himself again.
Hey HDC! Doubt it. After driving around in Ford’s better cars (dynamically speaking), I don’t think he’ll go back to Lexus. Maybe German. Or maybe he was driven around in trucks the whole time. Then Lexus would be an option. Probably will go German.
Or not!
Hey Marcelo! There was an obscure story I ran across a long time ago that Alan Mulally owned a Lexus LS??? while at Boeing.
Even though it is customary for a CEO to be furnished a Limo and chauffeur 24/7/366, it was alluded to that he enjoyed sneaking out incognito and mingle with the people in and around the area, just like any regular guy would.
Once he accepted the invitation to come on-board with Ford, the Lexus had to be the first thing to go. It just wouldn’t do for Ford’s new CEO to own a Lexus.
That would be like Big Poppy taking a selfie with O**** on a competitor’s smartphone and then posting it!!!!! Or a Pro-golfer spokesman wearing a cap with the competitor’s name on it while competing in the tournament.
If anyone else remembers or recalls running across that story about Alan Mulally’s Lexus, please enlighten us. I got a chuckle from reading it.
Enjoy reading your articles Marcelo. Keep up the good work.
Hey! I remember that story, too. I was just trying to be a little tongue in cheek.
Thanks for your kind words.
Remember that well he turned with the Lexus at the US Senates investigation into the Automobile industry.Did not go down well as the CEO of Ford.
RobertRyan, that’s the story! Thanks for helping me remember it. At my age I’m lucky to remember where my keys are. It’s a good thing my crank is attached.
Mulally has presided over 1-2 generations of pretty much every Ford product and totally remade the company into one global company vs a collection of regional companies with the same name. He shouldn’t have any regrets. At the same time, there is plenty for Fields to do:
1. The Lincoln revival (lets see of Ford has the persistence of GM with Cadillac or VW with Audi)
2. The fixing of MyFordTouch
3. Ford of Europe’s continued troubles (where the current Ford Fusion we have – Ford Mondeo there – still isn’t on sale)
Recently, watching the Euro Champions Leagues semis (soccer), I saw those propaganda boards around the field continuously touting the New Mustang. Don’t really know in which countries or with what seriousness was the old Mustang sold in Europe, but from the vende and the constant ads, it seems like this time the Mustang is reading for Europe. As it and the Mondeo/Fusion seem to be similar cars, it could be that they want to give the Mustang some space to become more well known before launching the Mondeo that would occupy a lot of mind space.
Just a thought.
@Marcelo de Vasconcellos,
Very few of the previous models were sold in Europe, a real niche product.
Exactly my thinking. Seems like they want to tale the new one mainstream, in stark contrast to predecessors.
@Marcelo de Vasconcellos
Problem not fundamentally different to the previous model.
@ RobertRyan – your referring to the Mustang? Its not supposed to be fundamentally different. People likely to buy the Mustang WANT a Mustang not Ford trying to reinvent the Capri or aping the toyobaru and slapping a galloping horse on the grill.
We’ll have to see if build quality and materials pass muster in foreign eyes.
@raph
It is going to be more than that, the current size is going to work against it in Europe
The new Mustang is listed as a “future vehicle” on Ford’s UK website along with the 2015 Focus, but a new Mondeo/Fusion is not listed. They continue to sell the old model that’s been out for years.
Yeah, but the Champion’s League is a pretty big platform from which to launch a car. Most of the male population in Europe will have seen at least some or part of the games. That shows me that unless it’s a sort of halo car, this time they want more sales for the Mustang in Europe.
“U.S. sales in 2013 rose 11 percent on the strength of products such as the F-Series, Escape and Fusion, while outselling Toyota in China”
Sounds good , but looking at the details not so good, Ford Profit shrunk in the US, Globally it is 7th in sales , not so good. In China the aversion to Japanese cars has helped it.
Most figures I have read show Ford at #5 globally, though frankly showing growth and profits at #7 isn’t “not so good”.
@Frantz,
Correction is now 6th, was 4th at one point has been passed by Renault/Nissan and Hyundai It is 6th from a profit aspect as well from memory
Wow the arrogance of this one is asrou. No regrets over the lying? The encouragement of a dishonest culture throughout the organization? Deceiving customers? The massive drop in quality that we are seeing? The production of sir if the most bland and mediocre vehicles the industry has ever seen? Missing your own goals in vehicle development? Numerous recalls?
And just recently we discovered the fuel mileage of the Lincoln Escape rebadge….in a word, pitiful for a compact SUV.
He should have many regrets over his disastrous tenure.
It occurs to me you must be on the payroll of another manufacturer and your job is to continually spew negative comments about Ford in a not so sublime effort to create uncertainty in potential customers of the brand.
GM is to obvious so I wonder who ?
However on another note your one of the reasons I keep coming back like the sun, the moon, and the tide you’ll be there singing the same song.
he must be living in an alternate universe because everyone will remember Mullaly as a wunderkind… the history books will write him up in all kinds of flowery prose, not with some basis to that
now akerson? whitacre? probably seatwarmers at best
Cue up Z71_Silvya’s broken record . . .
He’s still boring us with his clipboard of boiler-plate, Ford-sucks drivel? I tune him out.
Plug pulled on Panther under this guy’s tenure…lynch the bastard
TTAC nearly lost the EIC because of the Panthers ancient side impact protecion. Good riddance. They should have made a replacement ready first though…