Ford Has Some Catching Up To Do

It’s tapped outsider Jim Hackett as CEO to prepare for the industry’s digital and driverless reboot

- Keith Naughton, Jeff Green, and Jamie Butters

Even as the long bull run in global car sales begins to wane, no one can deny that the past few years have been good times for most automobile makers. Freer-spending consumers and demand for SUVs in North America and China helped drive the industry to a seventh consecutive year of record global sales in 2016. General Motors Co.—less than a decade after it exited bankruptcy—and Daimler AG logged the best earnings in their histories last year. Even shareholders of onetime laggard Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV got a boost from the improved environment, with its stock cranking out a total return of about 80 percent from late 2014 to May 19.

Yet despite remaining solidly profitable, Ford Motor Co. hasn’t exactly been running in high gear. The No. 2 U.S. automaker’s shares fell 32 percent in the three years ended May 19, dropping the company’s market value to below that of upstart electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc. Ford last fall received a public tongue- lashing from Donald Trump over its plans to move some small-car production to Mexico and ultimately canceled plans to build a factory there. Its 2016 earnings sank 38 percent. And in mid-May the company announced a program to cut 1,400 salaried employees in a bid to show investors that it’s controlling costs.

The weight of all that news came tumbling down on Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields, who led the company during the big stock slide. On May 19, Fields was ousted by Executive Chairman Bill Ford because of the disappointing results and a view that the company needs to increase efforts to keep pace as the industry is transformed by electric vehicles, driverless cars, and both ride-hailing and ride sharing services that could result in fewer sales in the not-too-distant future.