Mulally for car czar?

There has been a lot of talk of the Big Three automakers as if they’re all in the same sinking boat. Columnist George Will views Ford as an exception because of upbeat CEO Alan Mulally (right), a native Kansan and former Boeing executive. Will notes that “Ford is not asking Congress for money. It is asking only for access to money if there should be what Mulally delicately calls ‘a significant industry event’” – meaning a GM bankruptcy, which would threaten parts manufacturers. Will suggests that if there was to be a car czar, which he called “silliness on stilts,” the person’s job would involve supervising GM’s downsizing. He concludes: “Anyway, the most qualified person for that ill-conceived and unenviable position already has a more promising job, as Ford’s CEO.”

3 Comments

  1. JWink
    Posted December 22, 2008 at 7:44 am | Permalink

    As I recall, Alan Mulally was raised in Lawrence, Kansas, and graduated from K.U. with a B.S. and Masters in aeronautical engineering. During his succeeding time with Boeing, did he live in Wichita? What did the local Boeing work force think of him? Currently, he is relatively successful as CEO of Ford Motor Company.

    Bottom line, would he be a good choice for “car czar”?

  2. bth
    Posted December 22, 2008 at 10:52 am | Permalink

    ANYTHING would be an improvement over those ‘crocks of sh*t’ running GM. (Their terminology)

  3. Phantom
    Posted December 22, 2008 at 2:46 pm | Permalink

    I was never too impressed with Muallay, I think Mually got out of boeing while the getting out was good, before the globalization of the 787 fiasco came to fruition.
    He was part of that genius that wanted to be more like airbus, and just an engineering and final fabricator of airliners.
    He hasn’t done much for ford, except it hasn’t crashed yet.