CES 2011: Interview with Ford CEO Alan Mulally

By Doug Newcomb | January 8, 2011

Ford's Alan Mulally comes across as a humble, unassuming guy in person, quickly passing off credit for turning around the iconic car company over to his executive team and Ford employees and making those around him feel at ease. But behind the affable, Opie-like persona is a super-sharp, details-oriented, in-tune Ford president and CEO.

Predictions that this former auto industry outsider might flounder were way wrong, as Ford has benefited from clear goals, streamlined product offerings, strong design and innovative technology since Mulally descended on Dearborn. And that Ford was the only Detroit automaker to pull out of a tailspin without taking a government bailout has resonated with consumers.

We sat down with Mulally on the eve on his third consecutive keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show, which was another pioneering move on the part of Ford. And which the company used to debut the 2012 Focus Electric. Now many other car companies are following in Ford's footsteps and trekking to Vegas just days before the Detroit Auto Show. He talked about what has contributed to Ford's recent success, how the company has made technology a priority and he answers naysayers on the latest generation of Sync and driver distraction.

Straighline: Ford has been on a roll the past few years? Sales were up over 30 percent from 2008, and Ford has regained its position as the number-two automaker in the U.S.? Where do you go from here?

Alan Mulally: And another 20% in 2010. We'll continue this laser focus we put in place about four years ago. By that I mean the big decisions we made to transform Ford into a profitable, viable, growing company. One is to focus on the Ford brand and to revitalize Lincoln.

Second, to deliver a complete family of vehicles around the world: small, medium and large; and cars, utility vehicles and trucks. A full family. We are the volume manufacturer and we want to do that worldwide -- same family, no name changes, no tossing one out, bringing another one back. Everyone knows Ford; they know what it stands for. They walk into the showroom and they know they what [vehicles are available].

Third, every vehicle that we design and produce has to be absolutely best in class in five areas: quality, fuel efficiency, safety, smart and useful design and the very best value.

Another one is to utilize our global capabilities and serve our global customers, to be in every market around the world, with the full family of best-in-class vehicles. And to use our intellectual capabilities and knowledge around the world. You'll see that across the entire product line going forward, and within 12 to 18 months we'll have 80 percent of the vehicles on global platforms. It's a really clear plan.

SL: Since we're on the floor of the Consumer Electronics Show, how much do you think Ford's success can be attributed to its focus on technology?

Mulally: It's absolutely the foundation. Our point of view is that the value that we add is continuing to think about and anticipate what the customers really want and value, and then to develop the technology and innovations to exceed the customers' expectations. That's what we do. Taking that point of view about quality, green [efficiency] and safety is the most unbelievable enabler for technology and innovations. Whether it's blind-spot monitoring, cameras, cross-traffic alert, collision-avoidance, Sync and MyFord and all the apps it takes to make an electric vehicle work, we all know what the goal is and continuously improve every year. So technology is the differentiator.

SL: Many automakers have been playing catch-up with Ford technology-wise, but there are new Sync-like competitors coming out, like Kia's UVO and Toyota Entune. How does Ford plan to stay out front tech-wise?

Mulally: By continuing to update our thoughts on what customers really want and value, and then develop and innovate the technology to exceed their expectations. And do it faster than the competition.

With these big decisions that we've made and I talked about earlier; that's the transformation of Ford. Once you do that, all you have to compete with the best in the world and exceed the customer's expectations in technology, innovation and design and get talented people working together. I've seen a lot of companies over the years, and Ford has some of the most skilled and motivated people I've seen worldwide. And we're tapping into all those resources now and all that intellectual capability.

Part of the Focus Electric is so much bigger than the vehicle itself, because we're going to talk about an ecosystem that we're going to also further develop that allows you to take advantage and operate in an electrified world, because it's a different kind of operation: all of the applications, knowing about the charging and where all of the charging stations are located, knowing the time it takes to do it. And with all of the smartphone apps that we're building on top of Sync and MyFord so that you can manage your life with electrification, whether it's a hybrid, a plug-in hybrid or an all-electric.

SL: There's a lot of attention on driver distraction right now. How can Ford continue to move forward with providing drivers more content while at the same time making it safe to do so? And what would you say to people who think that some of this technology has no place in the car?

Mulally: We agree.

SL:Yet Sync offers text messaging capability.

Mulally: As we've implemented that technology, it fits our view of car connectivity. That is, focused on keeping your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road, using consumer electronics controllers that we all know how to operate. And especially with voice control, we're going to continue as fast we can with that approach. Because our data says that if you keep your eyes on the road and hands on wheel, you've done the most important thing to remove distraction.

We live in a wired world, so what you're going to get from Ford is the automobile app of choice. And we're going to make it safe and we're going to make it efficient. That's the technology that allows you to do it. Voice technology is moving really fast. That's going to keep going, and you're going to have a conversation with the car. Once we get to that place, it'll be the biggest single contribution to removing distractions and allow us to be connected to a wired world.

SL: Consumer Reports came down pretty hard on the new Edge and MyFord Touch. But they also announced this week that Ford has tied Toyota as the most favorably viewed brand in the US. That's sort of a good news/bad news scenario. What's your reaction?

We continue to work with Consumer Reports very closely so that we all know what we're testing and how we're doing it. So we take their comments seriously. Part of what they're talking about is having dedicated knobs for certain functions. We really think with the direction we're going -- with eyes on the road, hands on the wheel -- that's the biggest contribution we can make. We're getting feedback from all the users, all the consumers and Consumer Reports, and our strategy is to continue to improve the operation using everybody's input

I'd like to point out that 80 percent of the vehicles that we produce have Sync, and 80 percent of people love Sync and would recommend it to their friends. It really makes them a better driver and manages their data. But do we have room for improvement on response times and other things that people talk about? Absolutely. And we have it in the plan to continuously improve it each year.

At the end of the day, this is about delivering safe and efficient transportation, and if you aren't doing that you're not going to stay in this business. People say, "You're putting too much stuff in the car and you have too many applications." No, we're not. We're not going to do anything that degrades people's effectiveness at being a driver. It's the most important thing that we deliver. We cannot back away from that.

I've lived 40 years [of producing] safe and efficient passenger transportation-- first with commercial airplanes and now with automobiles -- and we will never, never go backwards. Every year it will get better and better.

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