The industry has changed, Farley know's it better than anyone, he did the unthinkable back in the early nineties - launched a Japanese luxury brand. If Ford is to survive as a serious money making enterprise very serious change must happen. It's ruthless, some might say heartless, brutal but all will agree necessary. Alot of good and not so good people were terminated, fired, ' involuntary seperated.' Sounds disgusting and it is is disgusting because it's a disgusting business. When a mistake is made at a product launch, btw, cars are no longer the ' product ' at Ford - billions of dollars and thousands of jobs are lost. IMO he needed to get rid of the old. And he will do it again. Who would ever have thought the head of Ford's global design is a mouse of a man from Hong Kong who earned his credo from a French automaker. Funny? Pathetic?Angered? Go through the list of LL2s, the majority of them are all outside of Ford and less than 3 years in their position. The clock is ticking for all of them, including Farley, and he knows it. Mess up and you're out, no second chance and no golden parachutes ( anyone remember the name Jacques Nasser, lol?! ) My heart bleeds for the thousands of workers that have been removed, those that are resilient will move on and unleash their talent and wisdom to improve the profits of Ford's competitors. As for those left, wake up, Farley is watching and if you mess up, you're next on the ' involuntary seperated ' line, Doug Field, Alan Clarke, Jae Park, Antony Lo, Franck Louis Victor just to name a few better produce results, the clock is ticking and Jim isn't going to wait long to see positive business impact. For the rest of us, the era of being a 'lifer' is over, be prepared to seize opportunities elsewhere at any time, loyalty no longer exists and its never about people first, it is and will always be profits first and we are all as expendable as a piece of used kleenex.
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I disagree that Ford can't and won't go bankrupt. Yes they mortgaged the farm to save it in 2009. BUT, they had Mulally overseeing it. Jim and Bill couldn't find their own as--s with all 4 hands and directions. Ford is doomed. They'll be bought out or bankrupt in 5-10 years. Too many headwinds.
Ford can NEVER go bankrupt - the Ford family would loose plenty of it happened - they will repeat what Alan did - hock everything and get loans - hopefully, all this so called right talent bs will stop soon - Farley is NOT a leader - he did NOTHING at Toyota - Scion IS a huge failure - and he backstabbed his way to the position he's in now - sooner or later the fakes being brought in will be exposed and terminated - including Doug Fields, Alan Clarke, and the HP id--ts. Farley is bringing in anyone that will not challenge him and getting rid of anyone that can expose his stupidity. It's simple, engineer and design affordable, well built and attractive vehicles - Farley is incapable. WTF was the ridiculous Lincoln concept shown at the autoshow - copycat and poorly executed Cadillac that has no relevance. Ford fired all the engineers that can produce a vehicle, they brought in id--ts from Renault as designers and who are all these id--ts from Hewlett Packard? Meanwhile, Apple keeps hiring the best of Ford while Ford hires Tesla's flunkies.
Farley did nothing on his own accord. Nothing. He follows orders. Bill's orders.
All this blaming Farley is not where the blame should go. Not saying I'm a fan of his, but you must realize Bill Ford runs the show. Bill and his politics more specifically. That is why Ford is going down the drain.
Going back to Alan and Mark Fields time, them two did lead. Bill stayed out of the way. Hackett was more half of a team with Bill, thus the failure.
With Farley, Bill is the dom and Farley is the puppet. And so, we have epic failure this time.
I've been in quiet quit mode since the February AICP debacle.
I worked with Alan Mulally. I knew Alan Mulally. Alan Mulally was a friend of mine. Jim, you're no Alan Mulally.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWXRNySMW4s
Farley is the ultimate old boy networker and backstabber. Game of thrones at its best but at the expense of thousands of lives and families he has destroyed. Bill Ford, Ford Board of Directors, WHY are you allowing this to happen???? History and your children will judge you for these terrible decisions.
A monkey would do a better job than Farley, but then again Farley is a monkey ( lol, i know, cheap shot, he deserves it ).
Jim Farley is no Alan Mulally.
Parry-Jones was a good leader and car guy. The focus back then before zero interest rates was luxury vehicles where Ford could make a good profit. Here's his obituary --
https://www.topgear.com/car-news/man-who-made-fords-great-drive-has-passed-away
The reason Ford, GM,& Chrysler ( before Daimler took over ) are failing is that leaders like Bob Lutz were pushed out and replaced by woke so-called leaders like jf
I'm no fan of Farley but he can't be blamed for Flex. A group audited marketing organizations around the world at Farley's request when he became CMO. Flex was really strange as there was no target customer. The conclusion from interviews was clear -- Flex came from Richard Perry Jones discussions with Ralph Lauren on American luxury. Lauren thought a woody wagon like vehicle would do well. These discussions took place in the Hamptons well before Farley became CMO.
I saw the handwritten note on the wall. Get out NOW. Don’t delay. If not now, when? Ask yourself that. There is an adjustment. Blame dedicated senior employees are just a cheap shot.
After 33+ years in the auto industry, 23+ years at Ford, six presidents, nine major rounds of layoffs I have decided that now is the time to retire. I asked to be terminated in the last two rounds and was told I was to valuable to be let go, but my PPL still rated me achiever. I am tired of Ford leadership telling me I am the problem when all the strategic decisions that ki-l the company (single sourcing chips) are made on the 12 floor. I have been in meeting with JF, he is a bully and hates every Ford employee who was not hired under him. Everyone who plans to retire in 3 years or less needs to retire by November 30th, take their pension lump sum December 1st and wave to the dying Blue oval as they walk out the door with a big bag of pension cash. If you wait, you will be sorry. My lump sum payment will drop 19% January 1, 2023 based on Julys numbers; that is 1 years pay gone. Time to take care of yourself, talk to a financial advisor, look at the financial number, make an informed decision and F - Ford. Time to take care of your family and yourself.
Who are these mo--ns that can't see the truth and just slurp up what Farley and Co. spill out? These kinds of threads have to be farcical.
Jim Farley is incompetent.
Bill Ford fell under Farley's bullcr-p baffles brains talk and now the company is doomed.
Joe Heinrichs would have saved the company. Furniture salesman Jim Hacket started the destruction of Ford and "All talk" Jim Farley is finishing it off.
The Ford family is getting what they deserve for their stupidity.
@1uba I don't remember the Ford Flex thing but I remember Scion claiming it would appeal to young people. The average age of a Scion xB buyer was 46.
Jim Farley has a lot of talent and will do the right thing. Cutting more job and bringing new talent is exactly the right thing!
Remember when JF tried to reposition the Ford Flex as an "urban" vehicle and hired rappers to pitch it to the public? Clear proof he didn't understand our products.
What are they smoking on the 12th floor? Must be Detoilet gold!
JF had nothing to do with launching Lexus. He did help launch Scion, which failed after a few years. Some of his so called new ideas at F like one price selling and port pooling of inventory was tried then, it went over like a lead balloon. Retreaded ideas from a failing exec.
I am sorry to say this. JF was not the lead on Launching Lexus in the early 90s. He was in his 20'S back then. Running around running copies does not merit an accomplishment.
If you want to see his track record, I noticed you left out his so-called real accomplishment called "SCION". That did not last very long. Tired of people coming in after the fact throw paint on the Sheetmetal after everyone else did the work and then take unearned credit.
He was a glorified "GOPHER" back then in the early 90s. Sorry if the truth hurts. he is not a Bob Lutz
Like someone posted last week, JF took over in the fall of 2020 so anything planned after that will be JF credit or blame. The rest was already in the cycle plan.
F Farley, he has no clothes.