Detroit Needs a Credible Face, Going Forward:

Mark Fields of Ford, Maybe?

Detroit Needs a Credible Interlocutor

As the bailout moves to fruition, US automakers need a credible spokesperson to assuage lingering misgivings among lawmakers and taxpayers.

The automakers need to build confidence in the competence and pragmatism of their future business decisions, and in their stewardship of an entire industry.

Detroit’s message, instead, has become increasingly garbled and questionable this week.

Thanks in large part to GM’s seemingly contrite, but badly mistimed advertisement in the Automotive News, as well as the increased prominence of Robert Lutz, GM’s vice chairman.

GM’s Ad in Automotive News

• Under normal circumstances, GM’s full page ad in the trade journal would be seen as classic crisis management. The ad conveys a frank message to GM’s stakeholders, by apologizing for past problems and promising improved product and financial performance. Unfortunately, the timing of the ad renders its message impotent at best, and may have even come across as a cynical gambit.

• But, the ad comes after several weeks of GM’s CEO blaming the credit crunch and unfair advantages enjoyed by foreign competitors as the primary reasons for Detroit’s weak position.

• So, the abrupt turnaround comes across as conveniently coinciding with GM’s exertions for a bailout.

• The ad’s many promises of improving product quality are also at odds with the company’s recent arguments that high prices resulting from its cost structure, rather than quality of its cars, are to blame for poor sales.

Robert Lutz, GM

• Mr. Lutz, GM’s executive responsible for global product development, is ill suited as the spokesperson for his company or its cohort.

• He has acquired notoriety for denouncing global warming as a hoax.

• He has reluctantly dragged GM on the path toward hybrid technologies, suggesting lately that GM’s plug-in hybrid will be the savior of the industry.

• Plus, his arguments hark back to blaming GM’s situation on the weak economy, rather than product quality, effectively conflicting with the company’s own admissions in its ad.

Ford’s Mark Fields

• Luckily, GM may have a better option for a spokesperson, as an ironic result of the company being lumped together with Ford and Chrysler. In effect, a credible spokesperson for any of the Big Three companies will be seen as speaking for all of Detroit’s carmakers.

• GM, therefore, would be better off having Mark Fields, executive vice president at Ford, take over as Detroit’s chief interlocutor in the coming days.

• Mr. Fields’ major success came when he helped turn around Mazda. Mazda went from a loss making business to posting record profits, during his tenure at its helm between 1999 and 2002.

• Since arriving at Ford, Mr. Fields has played a major role in crafting Ford’s “Way Forward” plan for customer-driven product innovation and a comprehensible brand strategy.

• Ford today is by far the best placed of the Big Three in terms of its market capital - its products, brands, and consumer assets.

A Credible Spokesperson, Urgently Needed

• Mark Fields has been an ardent supporter of the push toward smaller cars and alternative powertrain technologies at Ford. His public pronouncements and working style suggest a comfort with candor and self-criticism.

• And, it does not hurt that Ram Charan, an authority on business leadership, cites Mr. Fields as an expert in creating organizational openness and alignment.

• In the end, while he is not without flaws, Ford’s Mark Fields could be the credible face that Ford - and its competitor, GM, a global symbol of Detroit’s carmakers - urgently need.