”What we`re doing isn`t very glamorous, but it`s working.”
That`s how Louis Lataif, vice president of sales for Ford Motor Co.`s North American automotive operations, describes his company`s sudden rise in popularity.
General Motors Corp. reminded us of the glamor in the business when it rented the Waldorf Astoria hotel a couple of weeks ago and invited 14,000 people to stop by and see concept cars that had been locked away in the design and engineering studios (Autos, Jan. 10). GM had all its top brass on hand to describe what the company plans to bring out in three to five years.
With its cash reserves, Ford could have bought the Waldorf; but rather than make a big splash, it`s simply going to plod along with what it has been doing-outearning GM and outselling Chevrolet.
When Chrysler Corp. was on the verge of bankruptcy, it called newsmen into Detroit, where Chairman Lee Iacocca showed us prototypes of cars in the works for five years down the road.
Taking the wraps off the cars so early was a ploy by Iacocca. The message he was trying to convey: Support a Chrysler bailout because of all the great things we`ll have coming if we survive.
The GM Waldorf show had a similar bent. GM`s message: Taurus and Sable aren`t the only aero-styled cars, look what we`ve got coming. And if you think all GM cars look alike, wait until you see the styling changes and model individuality beginning in 1989.
With Ford, there`s no Waldorf. We called, instead, on noted sneak-peek photojournalist, Jim Dunne of Popular Mechanics, to capture what Ford has coming, as witnessed by his accompanying photos.
What the photos show is that Ford isn`t standing still and has a new, sporty, front-wheel-drive compact called Probe ready for this spring (its official unveiling is at the Chicago Auto Show), fresh new styling on the 1989 Thunderbird (and cousin Cougar) and a two-plus-two convertible successor to the former Mercury Capri for 1989. What the photos don`t show is more powerful T-Bird and Cougar engines, including a supercharged Thunderbird.
That`s next year. For now, the Continental was restyled for 1988 and converted to front-wheel drive. The compact Tempo and Topaz four-door sedans got new rounded, aero sheet metal for 1988. For spring, the subcompact Escort gets a styling facelift before a remake in 1991.
Not massive changes, to be sure; subtle but significant ones for the No. 2 automaker.
”What we`re doing is trying to concentrate on the basics,” Lataif said in an interview. ”I know it sounds corny but all we`re trying to do is build good quality cars. People don`t buy the corporation, the executives or our plants, they buy the products. There`s no secret. All we`re doing is the fundamentals.”
Ford has adopted a low-key approach to the business in the last few years, the time since Henry Ford II stepped aside as chairman and was replaced first by Phillip Caldwell and now by Donald Petersen.
In times past, whenever Ford people had the chance to bend the media`s ear, it was to take shots at big, bad GM. When it wasn`t attacking its archrival, it was boasting that a Mercedes-like grille on its cars should make customers think its vehicles were every bit as good as the West German automaker`s.
Neither its hostility toward GM nor its Mercedes lookalike grilles helped one iota.
”Yes, there`s less aggression now and you`ll see more of that from us,” Lataif said. ”More `we`ll never be perfect buy we`ll always try to get better.` But I don`t sense complacency around here, no sense that `We`ve arrived.` ”
Ford seemed to arrive when it brought out the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable on Dec. 26, 1985. The aero styling gamble paid off. The cars have been hot property since, and it`s obvious that the smooth aero look is the dominant styling theme into the `90s at Ford.
”Aero was a statement of function, not fashion,” Lataif said. ”It wasn`t a short skirt-long skirt fad to grab onto. Our thinking was to make the car look like it was in motion-that form follows function. With the aero shape, you enhance function because it means a quieter ride plus less wind resistance, which means better fuel economy.”
Though Ford is riding high since Taurus-Sable, its critics insist that tough times are ahead. At the Waldorf show, GM Chairman Roger Smith said Ford is trailing in new technology.
Smith said GM has most of its major expense for new products, engines and transmissions, as well as more modern plants, behind it, whereas Ford still has to bite the bullet to make those outlays.
”We`ve already spent billions on new products and have been spending at a record rate for years, spending that generated new products like Taurus-Sable,” Lataif countered. ”Mustang is our oldest platform, and it`s one of our top sellers.
”We`ve brought out new products and still have been able to report record profits; that`s not a function of failing to spend money,” Lataif said. ”We haven`t been using mirrors.”
But GM does have a 16-valve engine and antilock brakes on a wider variety of its cars. Ford doesn`t have a multivalve engine, and antilock brakes generally are limited to the high-priced Lincoln luxury cars.
”We aren`t finished spending yet,” Lataif said. ”The public is infinitely wise and it votes on new technology. Look how they`ve voted on the vehicles we have on the road.”
In the 1987 calendar year, the Ford F-series truck was the industry`s top-selling vehicle. The Ford Escort was the top-selling car; Taurus, No. 2;
Tempo, 12; and Mustang, 20. The Ford Ranger was the third best selling truck. ”Sure, we want to be modern as long as the customer benefits,” Lataif said. ”We have four-wheel drive in our Tempo and Topaz, and they (GM)
don`t.” (However, a four-wheel-drive Pontiac 6000STE went into production last week).
”Eventually we`ll have multivalve engines, but the customer isn`t so much interested in the technology as he is in having his car start in the morning, and he really doesn`t care how it happens.”
Ford has taken more of a helping hand approach for new technology and products by relying on its European operations as well as foreign partners.
Ford of Europe was responsible for the Merkur line, which includes the XR4Ti two-door coupe and the four-door Scorpio sedan. Kia Industries of South Korea supplies Festiva, Ford`s entry in the mini-market.
Ford of Australia is building the new Capri, developed by Mazda of Japan, which has close ties to Ford. Mazda is building the compact Probe for Ford in Flat Rock, Mich. Once considered a replacement for the Mustang, Probe will be a companion to its small sports lineup.
Chairman Petersen said Ford will call on its partners more in the future. Ford`s North American operations will develop the next generation Taurus-Sable; Ford of Europe will develop replacements for the Tempo-Topaz; and Mazda the next generation Escort, though it will be built in the U.S.
”We want to eliminate duplicative efforts that result when several groups plan, design, engineer, manufacture and assemble similar but not common products,” Petersen said.
At the Chicago Auto Show, which opens Feb. 13 in McCormick Place, Ford will display a series of concept cars that hint at future products.
One of these is the Barchetta, a two-seat subcompact convertible that was the basis for what will be the front-wheel-drive Capri in `89. Barchetta is built on a 90-inch wheelbase. The Capri will be longer because it`s a two-plus-two model to be powered by a 1.6-liter, 4-cylinder engine.
There`s also the concept Vignale, which drew the crowd`s raves when exhibited a year ago. Vignale is a two-seater luxury car compared with the Allante from rival Cadillac.
Lataif isn`t a keen supporter of rushing to market with a Vignale-type two-seater to compete with Allante. That the $56,000 Allante has been a sales dud contributes to Lataif`s caution.
”I have no regrets we don`t have a luxury two-seater in the market now,” he said. ”As a salesman, I naturally would love to have one of every type of car to offer; but as an executive who`s supposed to be a protector of the stockholders` investment, you have to focus on what provides the best return.
”The two-seater market has proved to be limited and there hasn`t been much of a market for those cars, not enough to concentrate our resources on now or to make efficient use of our talent for less than 10,000 units year,” he said.
But Lataif won`t rule out a Ford two-seater, obvious by the fact Vignale is going to be at the show.
Vignale is built on a 100-inch wheelbase, about the same as Mustang. It`s a front engine, rear-wheel drive configuration. There are two roofs; a glass hardtop and a fabric softtop that retracts. When stowed, a molded plastic tonneau cover with head restraint shapes covers the softtop.
It`s obvious Ford will get into 16-valve power plants because the Cobra 230ME concept car to be at the show is powered by a 2.5-liter, 16-valve, 4-cylinder engine. With the 16-valve, the Mustang-like sportster develops 230 horsepower.
Lincoln Quicksilver is a four-door concept sedan with which Ford has been toying. The 3-liter V-6 engine is just ahead of the rear wheels, which Ford says allows for a lower hood for reduced wind resistance and more equal weight distribution for improved road stability and handling. Quicksilver is the same size as the current Mustang.
