Ford 2010 Annual Report Download - page 28

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
26 Ford Motor Company | 2010 Annual Report
Product Development. Our One Ford global product development system is fully operationalized, utilizing global
platforms to deliver customer-focused programs rapidly and efficiently across multiple markets. Through our hub and
spoke approach, one lead product development engineering center – the hub – is assigned for each global vehicle line,
thereby ensuring global scale and efficiency through common designs, parts, suppliers, and manufacturing processes.
The hubs are supported by regional engineering centers – spokes – which also help deliver products tuned to local
market customer preferences while maintaining global design DNA. Typical delivery metrics for global programs include
80% part commonality, greater than 75% pre-sourcing to global suppliers, and 100% common manufacturing and
assembly process. For example, by 2012, we expect to produce more than two million units annually utilizing our Ford
C1-platform. The North American volume leveraging for Focus on the C1-platform improves from 200,000 to 850,000
units annually. Platform flexibility, efficiency and development speed is evident through 10 unique C-segment vehicles
launching globally within the next two years, including Focus, C-MAX and Escape/Kuga derivatives. The efficiency and
flexibility gains enabled by our One Ford plan will allow us to refresh all regional showrooms approximately one and a
half times over the 2010-2014 period.
Ford Credit. During 2010, Ford Credit reduced its worldwide staffing by about 1,000 positions to improve cost
structure in response to lower automotive industry sales volumes and the discontinuation of financing for Jaguar, Land
Rover, Mazda, and Volvo. This was in addition to the elimination of about 2,000 worldwide positions during 2009.
Accelerate Development of New Products Our Customers Want and Value
We are committed to introducing new products that consumers want and value, and we are receiving very positive
reactions from consumers, media, and independent evaluators in response to the products we have introduced in recent
years. We plan to build on this strength in 2011. Our global product strategy is to serve our key geographic markets with
a complete family of small, medium and large, cars, utilities and trucks that have best-in-class design and quality, are
environmentally responsible, and contain high-value safety and smart feature content. The result of this strategy is a full-
line of vehicles that:
• Have bold, emotive exterior designs
• Are great to drive
• Are great to sit in (with the comfort and convenience of a second home on wheels and exceptional quietness)
• Provide fuel economy as a reason to buy
• Are unmistakably a Ford or Lincoln in look, sound and feel
• Provide exceptional value
We are committed to delivering the freshest showroom in all regions with benchmark efficiency. Developing products
our customers want and value demands consistent focus on the four pillars of our global product strategy – Drive Quality,
Drive Green, Drive Safe, and Drive Smart.
Drive Quality. We have made significant improvements in quality through a renewed commitment that touches every
aspect of the vehicle process – from design to manufacturing to product launch – so that quality is designed and built into
every vehicle. These efforts have paid off with best-in-class initial quality in the United States according to internal and
external quality surveys.
We have established a global set of disciplined, standardized processes aimed at making us the world's leader in
automotive quality. Through our global product strategy and a single global management team, we are leveraging our
assets, implementing best practices and a systematic approach to quality, and utilizing common components for the
advantage of scale. The new integrated approach can be seen in the new Fiesta, our first of this generation of global
cars under our One Ford plan. Selling one high-volume version of this vehicle helps us reduce defects and improve
overall craftsmanship. In North America, Europe, and Asia we will launch our all-new C-cars in 2011 that will compare
very favorably to competitive models with respect to attributes such as wind noise, steering feel, ride and handling,
braking response, door closing sensation, performance feel and seat comfort.
In the 2010 J.D. Power APEAL survey, which measures the emotional quality of vehicles, attributes and surprise and
delight features, Ford improved to second among brands in North America. Moreover, in J.D. Power's 2010 initial quality
survey, which measures things-gone-wrong per 100 vehicles during the first three months in service, Ford, with a score
of 93, was the only full-line vehicle manufacturer that ranked in the top five. No other volume manufacturer is delivering
both emotional and rational quality in line with the industry's best. Our global quality strategy also is delivering improved
owner satisfaction and loyalty, lower warranty costs, higher lease residual values, and continued improvement in long-
term reliability.