AN AUTONEWS 04-30-07 A 26 AUTONEWS 4/25/2007 4:34 PM Page 1 26 • APRIL 30, 2007 MULALLY’S MANTRA: ONE FORD 6 key players 6 engineers and designers who 2 markets, 2 different commercial vans have key roles in developing global Ford-brand vehicles Amy Wilson [email protected] Joe Bakaj DETROIT — No vehicle epitomizes Title: Vice president Ford Motor Co.’s struggles to share of product vehicles globally more than the full- development, Ford sized van. of Europe Ford executives have debated the Age: 44 merits of selling a single commer- Years at Ford: 22 cial van around the world since the Known for: Before becoming head 1960s, when the company’s Euro- of European product development pean entry, the Transit, was devel- in 2005, Bakaj led Mazda global oped. The Transit bears little re- product development. semblance to Ford’s E-series or Ford sells the Transit van in Europe. The Econoline is Ford’s U.S. commercial van workhorse. Econoline van that dominates the Peter Horbury North American commercial van concerns about costs of a joint pro- product chief Derrick Kuzak said. “So Transit Connect, a commercial van Title: Ford North market. gram and different customer prefer- it’s an opportunity.” smaller than the regular Transit, in America executive According to former Ford President ences in Europe and the United That said, the Transit and the the United States this year. director of design Nick Scheele, Ford has studied States. Econoline have differences that must With gasoline prices rising in the Age: 57 whether to develop one global van European customers prefer small- be reconciled. The Transit comes in United States, Ford foresees demand Years at Ford: 8 ever since he bought parts for the er, more fuel-efficient powertrains, rear-wheel-drive and front-wheel- for a smaller, more fuel-efficient van original Transit as a young purchas- while U.S. van buyers like bigger, drive configurations, with four-cylin- that can be used for small-item deliv- Known for: As Volvo’s longtime ing executive in the late 1960s. more powerful engines. European der diesel and gasoline engines. The ery or tradespeople who don’t carry design director, Horbury “There is some crossover, but this and U.S. executives also feared jeop- 2008 E-series is rwd with high-dis- bulky equipment. modernized the brand’s boxy design. Since the beginning of ain’t a slam dunk,” Scheele told Au- ardizing the strong market share of placement V-8 and V-10 gasoline en- “There’s nothing like a Transit Con- 2004, Horbury has been working tomotive News in 2003, soon after their vans. gines. nect” in the United States, Kuzak on a new design direction for Ford suspended development of a Now that CEO Alan Mulally has “When you have two very successful said. “When you think about Internet Lincoln and the Ford brand in program that would have merged made global product programs a pri- vehicles, it’s probably harder,” said shopping and the number of delivery North America. the Transit and the Econoline. “We ority, is it time to revisit a merger of Barry Gale, chief engineer for com- services popping up, that’s why have gone into this time and time Ford’s commercial vans? mercial vehicles at Ford of Europe. Transit Connect is so popular in Eu- Derrick Kuzak again.” “There is similarity in the vehicles A decision that wasn’t so difficult: rope. None of that is unique to Eu- Title: Global product The project has faltered because of and the customers,” Ford’s global Ford is expected to start selling the rope.” c chief Age: 55 Years at Ford: 29 Known for: Kuzak DESIGN led development of Ford’s C1 Global plan allows architecture, which spawned the European Focus, Volvo S40 and for local variations V50, Mazda3 and derivatives. In 2005, he became product chief continued from Page 24 for the Americas before ascending to the global job in Mulally requested that pins be or- December. Kuzak reports to CEO dered for all 65,000 employees at Alan Mulally. Ford of Europe. Mulally said Ford of Europe got its Paul mojo back by staying focused on the Mascarenas customer. By moving more heavily Title: Vice president into diesel engines and producing of engineering, more variants of Ford’s stylish small Americas cars, the Cologne crew put its prod- Age: 45 uct lineup back into contention. Years at Ford: 25 Ford’s turnaround plan for North Known for: Mascarenas will help America shares similar elements: oversee development and Shut down plants, slash the work implementation of a global force, trim raw material costs. But the engineering DNA for the Ford key will be to put design back onto brand. He helped lead center stage. development of the 2008 Ford Super Duty, 2007 Ford Edge and Try, try again 2006 Ford Fusion. All of this sounds good in theory. But Ford veterans know the company J Mays has previously tried — and failed — Title: Group vice to create global cars. president of design In the 1990s, two Mondeo variants and chief creative dubbed the Ford Contour and Mer- officer cury Mystique debuted in the United Age: 52 States. They bombed. Martin Smith: “You wouldn’t know that (a European Ford) is related to a Fusion. That’s what Mulally is asking us to address.” Years at Ford: 10 The Focus was supposed to be a Known for: At Audi and world car, too. But after the first gen- teams like the one set up for the B-car. reviews for the clean lines of the Edge cles will be designed where they are Volkswagen, Mays had a hand eration, the U.S. and European mar- Once Kuzak figures out how to har- crossover and the Flex not-really-a- engineered, he says. For small and designing the New Beetle and kets ended up with different versions monize Ford’s product plans, it will minivan, which goes on sale in 2008. mid-sized cars such as the Focus and Audi TT. He oversees design because U.S. product planners didn’t be up to two Brits — Smith and U.S. But Horbury’s Red, White and Bold Fusion, European designers likely direction for all Ford Motor want to invest in the same upgrades design chief Peter Horbury — to cre- has little in common with Smith’s ki- will have a big say. brands. Notable concepts include that European planners used. ate a global look for the Ford brand. It netic design. Smith says it’s still early; But different regions won’t get iden- the Ford Fairlane and Ford 427. The Ford 2000 restructuring of for- could take as long as seven years. they’ll work it out. It’s too early to say tical cars. With the coming B-car, for mer CEO Alex Trotman was sup- “At the moment, you wouldn’t how kinetic design will influence the example, Europe will get a hatchback Martin Smith posed to generate a portfolio of glob- know that the S-Max is related to the next generation of vehicles, he ad- while the United States and China get Title: Ford of Europe al vehicles, but that plan also failed Ford F-150 truck,” Smith says. “You mits: “We don’t exactly know how to sedans. Like handbag designers, Ford executive design (see story, Page 30). wouldn’t know that (a European do it yet.” will customize colors, materials and director It’s Kuzak’s job to make it work this Ford) is related to a Fusion. That’s finishes to fit local tastes. Age: 57 time. Mulally, who calls Kuzak “our what Mulally is asking us to address.” European styling When the B-car debuts, it will pro- Years at Ford: 3 hero,” picked him last December to For the moment, Horbury is stick- Smith says the “overriding influ- vide important clues to Ford’s world- Known for: Smith spearheaded be global product chief. Currently, ing with “Red, White and Bold,” a ence” on Ford’s global vehicle pro- wide design direction. Until then, Ford of Europe’s kinetic design Kuzak is trying to weave together the look that features the familiar grams will come from “the markets Ford watchers will have to ponder a theme seen on the redesigned company’s product plan. He says he chrome three-bar grille on the Fusion where that look is having a huge suc- woman’s handbag as if it were some Mondeo and the Iosis X concept. will establish more global vehicle and Edge. Horbury has earned good cess.” Ford’s next generation of vehi- sort of Zen aphorism. c.