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Mulally: Small cars will drive Ford's future.

Article Excerpt
CEO Alan Mulally has steered a steady course for Ford Motor Co. since joining the company in September 2006. Quickly mortgaging assets to build cash reserves, he has focused on integrating Ford's global operations and building a strong lineup of small and mid-sized cars in the United States.

Mulally continues to stick to the plan, rejecting talk of alliances or mergers to concentrate on the automaker's core brand, which he refers to as "our Ford. Mulally spoke with Editorial Director Peter Brown, Editor David Sedgwick and Staff Reporter Amy Wilson.

Can your turnaround plan work if we see sales as low as 11 million or 12 million units industrywide in 2009?

Yes, because the key element of our plan is to always restructure to thereal demand. So every month we have been taking action during this economic slowdown. And so we'll keep taking that action incrementally. The most important thing we do is get back to profitability by sizing ourselves to the real demand.

Speaking of the move to smaller vehicles, we've seen the price of gasoline as low as about $2.50 per gallon. Does that change your strategy to move to small cars?

We're even more committed to our strategy because I think that over time the fuel prices are going to be...

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