The election campaign feud made countless headlines, but President-elect Donald Trump and Ford Motor Company could soon share a unique bond — assuming one man gets a plum job.
Trump’s transition team has revealed that ex-Ford CEO Alan Mulally is being considered for the position of Secretary of State.
First reported by Fox News, Mulally joins hopefuls that include Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who shared a fairly appealing spread with the president-elect at a New York restaurant last week.
The Trump team met with Mulally yesterday.
According to campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, the team’s ideal pick is someone outside of the Washington establishment, hence the business and military-heavy candidates. Mulally, she said, would be an “interesting” choice.
Serving as president and CEO of Ford from September 5, 2006 to July 1, 2014, Mulally guided the automaker through the most tumultuous period in its history, avoiding the bankruptcy that befell General Motors and Chrysler. Under his watch, Ford divested itself of Volvo, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover, and most of its Mazda stake. New product strategies emerged, and Ford rode out of the recession on a wave of prosperity.
Before Ford, Mulally served as a high-ranking executive at Boeing, eventually gaining the title of CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
Trump’s consideration comes as something of a surprise, given his past treatment Ford. The president-elect singled the automaker out for sending production of small cars to Mexico, though the relationships has since thawed, at least somewhat. Still, Trump’s threat of tariffs on vehicles imported from Mexico hasn’t gone away.
[Image: Ford Motor Company]
Mulally as SoS?
HOMER: That’s a negatory good buddy!
Unwanted political commentary via a thin automotive connection. Please do better.
I see no commentary here that isn’t based on solid fact, compared with mere opinion/ideology. This IS “better.”
That said – and similar to Romney’s prospects – Mulally strikes me as a wholly unappealing choice for the Trump cabinet, and the Trump cabinet an equally unappealing choice for Mulally.
Some people just aren’t satisfied unless the subject matter is 110% apolitical.
If you really have a hair up your arse about the content, contact the editor directly.
I don’t believe that said people are worried about subject matter being apolitical at all. Any story which is even tangentially political just needs to be written in a way that reinforces their fantasy narrative is all. Mentioning certain people without denigrating them is unacceptable. Discussing prospects for the coming years without claiming doom is certain is an affront to their delusions.
Agreed. I can’t tell if it’s pro-Trump or anti-Trump — the article is simply stating Mullaly is under consideration and offers a little background. Methinks @cpthaddock doth projects too much.
I also agree Mullaly doesn’t seem to be a good fit (and vice versa). Trump may be using Mullaly for leverage — to test how much Mitt Romney wants the job.
Uh, the ex-CEO of Ford Motor Company is a “thin automotive connection”? Please do better.
Shove it
I don’t see Mullally as Secretary of State. We could use him in some capacity to straighten out a government mess or 2 like he did at Ford, but SoS?
Yeah wouldn’t Secretary of Treasury or Commerce have made more sense?
The rights to Treasury Secretary were sold to Goldman Sachs in 2009 don’tcha know?
GS has been in the governement since before the depression. It’s a long unpleasant history.
Car Czar?
He got lucky at Ford. He bet the farm, literally, right up to the brand on loans. His competitors couldn’t get a loan when the crap hit the fan because even if you knew Jesus on a first name basis and he was your racquetball partner at the club on Wednesdays, you couldn’t get a loan in the fall of 2008.
Ford had the cushion (and still got TARP support for floor financing and customer financing to keep moving iron – look it up).
He got very, very lucky. Their product mix was F-150, F-150, F-150, Triton 5.4 and modular 4.6. The Fusion was definitely interesting and the Escape solid.
Let’s not forget Mercury died under his watch and Lincoln went right to the brink with his plans, and still hasn’t fully recovered. He had to jettison Jaguar, Rover and Volvo, with Jaguar and Rover in awful states.
So yes, he kept Ford out of managed bankruptcy — barely. That is definitely something.
that’s a bit out of order. the financing that Ford got was put together by Don LeClair before Mulally came on board.
Don LeClair is the one who saved Ford Motor Company. You can argue that Mulally gave it a future, though.
“Let’s not forget Mercury died under his watch ”
Mercury was *euthanized.* They had literally nothing in their lineup which wasn’t identical to a Ford vehicle save for the badge and grille. There was literally no room between Ford and Lincoln to wedge another brand.
” Lincoln went right to the brink with his plans, and still hasn’t fully recovered.”
Lincoln was already “on the brink” when he came in. What put Lincoln on the ropes was PAG. Why bother trying to make Lincoln a credible luxury brand when you already have Jag, Land Rover, Volvo, and Aston-Martin in the portfolio?
I haven’t followed Ford closely, but before Mulally, Ford had a culture of shooting the messenger. That is, problems found in the lower ranks never percolated up to management. The result was poor quality products built on half-truths.
Also, Mulally was willing to toss out Microsoft Sync in favor of its own Sync3, which was a good move. But inside jokes point out that was why he was never on the short list of take over Microsoft after Steve Ballmer.
Jettisoning Volvo and Mazda probably helped narrow Ford’s focus.
But I’ll try to keep an open mind about him He’s repeatedly associated with Ford’s successes — F150, Fusion, Escape — and i’m sure his failures are downplayed.
“Also, Mulally was willing to toss out Microsoft Sync in favor of its own Sync3, which was a good move. But inside jokes point out that was why he was never on the short list of take over Microsoft after Steve Ballmer.”
you have absolutely no clue what you’re talking about here.
>> you have absolutely no clue what you’re talking about here.
It was just a joke. But if you know more, please, clue me in.
Under his leadership he did help make Ford great again.
Uh-huh.
Mercury died.
Lincoln went right to the brink and has yet to recover.
Rover and Jaguar were jokes (Taurus based Jaguar anyone), sold to the Indians for pennies on the dollar on the brink of collapse.
Volvo jettisoned for more funds, with no R&D in the pipeline.
Ford missed the growth in China as an emerging market and now the largest car economy in the world.
He got lucky but ya – Ford is great.
@APaGttH
Forgot to add Ford’s Global ratings plummeted under his reign. Those ” dead loss” divisions Jaguar/ LR /Volvo and Aston Martin are now booming under Tata. Volvo is expanding under Geely. Even Aston Martin has found some traction.
Alan Mulally isn’t right wing enough for the job.
Corollaman – Mr. EBFlex will beg to differ ;)
But then when he quit, things did go south again.
“Alan Mulally isn’t right wing enough for the job.”
But then again, neither is Donald Trump….
A President with zero experience in foreign affairs being adviced by a diit SoS, taking over the mess that is America’s current foreign entanglements………
On one end, Mulally should be able to speak Trump’s language better than most beltwayers. They’re both high profile “buck stops with me,” public personas.
More ominously, appointing a Boeing/Detroit veteran, indicates Trump is focusing and loading up on trade/competition experience, over the more traditional SoS kind. Doubling down on what was the perhaps scariest and least flattering part of his campaign.
Maybe Trump should appoint Jacques Nasser as a new position, Unifier of Continents.
He could bring North and South America together, and make them share things and be very similar in quality of life and integrity – all while having wildly disparate currency values for no apparent reason.
I fully support this plan. Make Pangaea Great Again.
NASSSSSSSSSSSERRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!
Never happen.
Name sounds so foreign.
I’m still waiting for the appointment of David Ernest Duke to head Homeland Security.
If only things could be that batsh*t crazy, the President-elect thus far has followed relative convention in the cabinet selection. No Jesse Ventura, no Ron Paul, no Arthur Thompson or Don King. In other words, nobody way out there which is what I was looking forward too. I can see Iron Mike Tyson in some kind of role, even with all of his brain damage he is at least equal with most Obama picks.
@Lou_BC
He is currently on the board of Australia’s BHP. You can have him back again. He was Ford Australia’s ” Golden Haired Boy” starting on the factory floor and working his way into Management.
He is Christian Maronite Lebanese
Well hell why not? I mean Robert McNamara went from Running Ford to the Cabinet as JFK/LBJ’s SECDEF and he did a bang up job handling that Vietnam thing!
Another click bait article by Steph Willems. Who needs facts like Alan Mulally hasn’t been CEO for 2.5 years and had nothing to do with Ford’s small car Mexico manufacturing plans when you can jump on the fake news bad wagon.
If it weren’t for the Baruth brothers and Sajeev I’m not sure TTAC would even be worth reading anymore.
Oh take your fake news and SHOVE IT!!!!!
Yeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhh!
SHOOOOOVE ITTTTTT!!!!!!
*YAWN* You’re a bore ass.
Shove it Chithead.
One thing is certain, NONE of these candidates could do worse than HilLIARy.
Not even close.
Not if they tried.
HiLIARious.
Are you the guy who shot up the pizza restaurant after ingesting too much fake news? I thought you were still in custody, so how did you gain internet access?
Did I strike a nerve?
In about the same way a yapping little purse poodle does.
How ironic is it that a HC devotist perceives dogs in such a negative manner?
http://www.snopes.com/2016/08/01/bonner-hillary-k9-handler/
Keep paintin that picture, Fetch.
“a HC devotist”
hurr… that ain’t even uh akchual werd, lil’ yappy guy :-D
findwords.info/term/devotist
You catch on quick, mister stainy pants ;-)
I once got trapped by one of your cousins while doing a compressor swap on a chest freezer in the huge, mostly empty laundry/mudroom of a half-million house.
That little white furball would NOT stop yapping at me from 6′ away. You have to experience that kind of resonance phenomenon from the inside to truly appreciate it.
Oh yes the professional actor? Whatever happened to that guy?
He trolls the web under the name 30 mile fetch.
Did you look at his IMDb page or are you just quoting this conspiracy theory from reddit and Twitter feeds? His experience isn’t what anyone would call “professional”.
I read it somewhere. Quite predictable given all of the fake crisis actors used in the last few setups. The real question is, cui bono?
That’s good, “somewhere” is always a reliable source.
“Somewhere” is how a lot of really smart people learned about the child abuse ring in the pizzeria and other stories important in this election. If “somewhere” is good enough for a retired general and his son of the same name, it’s good enough for me.
Cui bono is a question better asked of the fake news authors.
If you’ve studied the upper crust at all, you’d know any behavior of the elite of past empires is possible of them. Human appetites and depravities do not change much, money and power is what enables their behavior. If you do not have enough of either chances are you are not divulging in what they are, or if you are, you will be punished for it when caught.
Oh and I’ll tell you who might benefit, the alleged pedophile ring. Taking one shot which hurt no one and was pointless causes the police to arrive and investigate the scene. Now you’ve generated a police report showing no odd behavior occurring at the scene, as it was previously cleaned up by the conspirators before they had their actor come into the scene. Now if any suits /FOIA etc are filed, the police report will be used as evidence against said suit. Oh and for the alleged shooter, CBS is reporting he was being charged with four things the most serious of which was: assault with a dangerous weapon. I’m not sure what level of felony that is in D.C. but watch to see what happens to him. If he pleads out to nothing and effectively disappears this would lend credence to the setup theory.
Heck its not like MSM would ever lie to you, or has lied for decades.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird
As someone born and raised in Atlantic city, and with immediate family that worked at Trump Castle from Day minus 2 months (when it was the Hilton), I can assure you there’s no limit to the depth of the hole that Trumpkins can dig.
Side note, he has built surprisingly few buildings, outside of Trump Tower, Trump Chicago, and Trump DC. His four AC casinos were built by Hilton, Harrahs/Caesers, Merv Griffin, and Atlantis
Only two significant aircraft manufacturers in the free world, one of them Boeing, and the former CEO up for SoS.
Nothing to see here folks, draining the swamp, yes sir, yes sir, draining the swamp.
And you need a 767 tanker!
And you need a 767 tanker!
And YOU need a 767 tanker!
Drones – lots of drones – the world needs more DRONES.
I’d rather he be considered for Sec Def. Marine Generals are fine as
members of Joint Chiefs of Staff, but you need someone who has run a very
large business successfully as Sec Def. Mulally fits that description.
Ordinarily I would agree. But General James Mattis is not just a Marine General. He is the leader that the Defense Department needs. He understands the challenges that the military faces better than almost anyone on earth. He also knows what it’s like to be an infantryman and will put the men and women that serve first. He is exactly who this country needs running the Department of Defense.
A quick google search showed this:
By law, the civilian leader of the U.S. Military needs to be retired from active military service for at least seven years, so Mattis will need a special waiver.
Donald Trump should have Vince McMahon as Secretary of State.
“All right ISIS, you want to mess with America? Well let’s see how you do…AT WRESTLEMANIA!!!!!!!!”
His wife is now the head of the SBA IIRC.
President-Elect Trump’s interviews for State look like a dog and pony show. I’ll bet he’s got somebody lined up and is delaying the announcement to keep the opposition off-balance. Meanwhile, he’s making the press look bad with their predictions of the announcement date and who has been chosen. DJT has until Christmas to keep it going, and I’ll bet he’s enjoying every minute of it.
And you would be wrong. Trump appointed Tillerson yesterday.
Nominated. He’s highly controversial, even for the Republicans. I would wonder why DJT would butt heads with his party establishment like that, unless there’s something else going on. Then again, Donald Trump may not be as diabolical as I think he is.