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Detroit News obtained an internal document from Ford that outlines four specific objectives in CEO Alan Mulally's turnaround plan. For the most part, we've heard these goals before: ramp up product development, establish suitable financing, increase teamwork and (at long last) resize Ford's operation to better address what the consumers want. That last bullet point is what has our attention.
The proliferation of Mustang variants over the past few months (weeks?) has become an internal joke at AutoMK. Regardless whether these special editions are FoMoCo developed or birthed from the aftermarket, it's gotten silly. The proposal addresses the vast expanse of options, be it color choices or trim packages, and seeks to reign in the thousands (we've counted) of configurations available in both the V6 and V8 Mustangs. Ford execs maintain that it does little for the pony car and merely confuses customers. We tend to agree.
The realization that there are too many choices for many of Ford's models came to Mulally when he went to purchase an Econonline for his mother's senior center. The philanthropic head of Ford was met with 185 different options, and he understood that decisions like that do little to ease customers into the brand.
Implementation of this new edict will come quickly and will likely involve packages that make it easier for consumers to choose what they want and for dealers to keep the right products in stock for their region.
[Source: Detroit News]
