A review by miscbrah
American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company, by Bryce G. Hoffman
4.0
Audible version
This was a pretty book particularly beginning from chapters 15 - 21. This is when the author begins the discussion of TARP and how Ford got a private bailout rather than being taken over by the U.S. government like GM did. I was most interested in this part and obtaining an insight into the auto industry restructuring.
The first third of the book is a chronology of Ford's history up until Alan Mulally comes in. It does go over some of the reasons why he joined Ford and their recruitment efforts. Ford was a really innovative company back when it was first created up until 1960s. The author says they got complacent and they had some safety issues with their vehicles (Ford Pinto for example). They couldn't keep up with the Asian car companies. Another thing that really hurt them was that they were hyper focused on trucks and SUVs when sedans and EVs started becoming popular. They also killed of the Taurus which was their leading car back in the day. Alan found this puzzling. You get an insight too into how powerful the UAW was/still is.
Alan was really different than other CEOs and management in the car industry. He's this charismatic aeronautical engineer from Boeing. He did a great turnaround job there when they were affected by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. You can see why Alan was successful at Boeing and Ford. This was a good book and probably would of been better for me to read rather than listen to audible as I walk my dog or bike.
This was a pretty book particularly beginning from chapters 15 - 21. This is when the author begins the discussion of TARP and how Ford got a private bailout rather than being taken over by the U.S. government like GM did. I was most interested in this part and obtaining an insight into the auto industry restructuring.
The first third of the book is a chronology of Ford's history up until Alan Mulally comes in. It does go over some of the reasons why he joined Ford and their recruitment efforts. Ford was a really innovative company back when it was first created up until 1960s. The author says they got complacent and they had some safety issues with their vehicles (Ford Pinto for example). They couldn't keep up with the Asian car companies. Another thing that really hurt them was that they were hyper focused on trucks and SUVs when sedans and EVs started becoming popular. They also killed of the Taurus which was their leading car back in the day. Alan found this puzzling. You get an insight too into how powerful the UAW was/still is.
Alan was really different than other CEOs and management in the car industry. He's this charismatic aeronautical engineer from Boeing. He did a great turnaround job there when they were affected by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. You can see why Alan was successful at Boeing and Ford. This was a good book and probably would of been better for me to read rather than listen to audible as I walk my dog or bike.