Summary
DEARBORN, Mich. - If Alan Mulally, Ford's CEO, is looking for fresh words to inspirit his troubled company - words to replace "The Way Forward," which rang hollow as Ford slid further backward - he might try: "Lay off the cheeseburgers, America - you're killing yourself, which is your business, but you're also killing Ford, which is my business." That exhortation is not pithy but is oddly pertinent.
The average weights of American men (191 pounds) and women (164 pounds) have increased 25 pounds since 1960. And according to one study, in 2003, Americans' 223 million cars and light trucks burned an extra 39 million gallons of fuel for every additional pound of passenger weight. So Americans are using almost a billion gallons of gasoline more each year than they would if they were as, comparatively, svelte as they were in 1960. Because Ford is more a truck company than a car company - its big moneymakers are F-Series pickups, and SUVs such as the Explorer are classified as trucks - it has been hit especially hard by changing consumer preferences produced by high gasoline prices. That is one reason why Ford lost $5.8 billion in the third quarter.See the full content of this document
Extract
Mulally Will Find It's Tough to Rebuild Ford
Mulally, 61, is frequently described as having "boyish" looks and pep. But it has been only four months since William Clay Ford Jr., Henry's great-grandson, replaced himself...
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