Tagged: Alan Mulally

Ever since Ford CEO Alan Mulally turned 65, one question invariably comes up during media scrums at Ford Motor Company events.  "When are you going to retire?" some reporter or other asks.

Now that he's 67, the question is being asked even more frequently -- even though the man is by all accounts healthy, extremely fit, and a fierce competitor on the tennis court and golf course - and even though he seems to relish his job.  

Ford Motor Company posted its third consecutive annual profit last year.   

It’s another sign that the company’s massive restructuring effort, which began in 2006, has returned the company to financial health. 

"This was our plan," said Ford CEO Alan Mulally.  "This is our vision of growing a great company for the good of all of us." 

Ford made an $8.8 billion pre-tax operating profit last year, not including a one-time tax gain.  That compares to an $8.3 billion pre-tax operating profit in 2010.

The CEO of Ford Motor Company says the company is well on the way to fixing quality problems in new Ford cars.

The problems resulted in a big drop in the rankings for Ford in Consumer Reports' 2011 reliability survey.

Customers are having problems with the company’s My Ford in-car communication system. 

Users found the touch screens hard to activate or they had to be rebooted frequently.  

Consumer Reports' David Champion said that’s a safety issue, if people are so distracted by the problems that they take their eyes off the road.  

The new transmission in the Focus and Fusion has glitches, too. 

CEO Alan Mulally said both problems are software related.  

"So it’s relatively easy and fast, to be able to make those improvements," Mulally told Michigan Radio.  "So we’ve already started to incorporate that in the products that are in the field but also in the new products coming out."

Mulally said Ford began working on the issue a year ago, right after customers started complaining. 

Ford fell from 10th to 20th place this year in the Consumer Reports reliability survey.

Ford Motor Company reports strong profits for the third quarter.  The company made $1.6 billion, despite a stagnant U.S. economy.   

The company's profit was down a bit from last year, because of a charge related to commodities, not because sales have slowed. 

Ford also reduced its debt by another $1.3 billion.

CEO Alan Mulally says the improved balance sheet -- and the new contract with the United Auto Workers -- will result in job growth over the next three to four years.

Ford Motor Company announced a profit of more than $2.5 billion in the first three months of the year.

That's the company's best quarterly performance since 1998.

Ford CEO Alan Mulally expects the rest of 2011 to be profitable as well - despite some headwinds like low U.S. consumer confidence and rising commodity and gas prices:

"Even though it's a slower recovery and the fuel prices are moving up, the demand is there and we are really pleased to have the product line that the consumers really do want and value."

Mulally says he's  optimistic that car sales will continue improving:

"In the automobile industry, the pentup demand is tremendous, you know the average age of car ownership is over ten years now."

Mulally says Ford also improved its balance sheet by reducing its debt by another $2.5 billion in the first quarter.

Ford took out a huge loan in 2006 before the recession.  That loan enabled the company to improve its cars during the economic downturn and avoid bankruptcy.

Since last year, the company has paid off $17 billion of debt.