Mulally: Ford Will Expand Partnerships
March 28, 2007
Ford CEO Alan Mulally said Ford will expand its collaboration with other automakers, particularly in such areas as powertrain engineering and manufacturing.
In an interview with trade journal Automotive News, Mulally said he has made it a priority to meet leaders of other auto companies during his first six months on the job. He now says he's "just about talked to all of them" and that new business relationships are likely to result.
"We have a really good set of partners and alliances on both technology and the vehicles themselves," Mulally said in the interview. "As we go forward, we'll see more of it. Even more collaboration will be a big part of our plan."
Mulally’s high-profile visit with Toyota leaders in Japan last year prompted widespread speculation about closer ties between Ford and Toyota. Such a hookup is highly unlikely since there is nothing in such a deal for Toyota, expect, perhaps public relations value of helping out the down-and-out American.
Ford, meantime, already has a transmission development arrangement with GM that has yielded both companies a very competitive six-speed automatic, increasingly used by both companies.
Another likely scenario would be for Ford to join a GM-DaimlerChrysler-BMW cooperative to develop hybrids. So far, Ford has gone it alone on hybrids.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:32 AM under Business , Companies , Ford , News , Personalities | Comments (1) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
This will yield OK results. But the troubling thing for Ford, it's stockholders and it's employees is that this move isn't a good choice or bad choice. It's a choice that they are FORCED to make.
As a rapidly shrinking automaker, Ford simply no longer has the scale that GM, DCX, VW, or Toyota does to justify independent R&D on all fronts. As such, Ford's destiny increasingly lies in others' hands...
Posted by: thriftytechie | March 28, 2007 at 11:39 AM