Mulally's Nameplate Goal: 20

It would hurt your brain to think of all the different vehicles that are produced across the globe, there are so many!  Right now if you visit Minneapolis Ford you will get to choose from their 36 different vehicle nameplates currently in production.  That number might seem high, but you have to remember that Ford also owns Lincoln and Mercury, as well as the different vehicles that are only in global markets that the U.S. never sees.  Ford isn't the only company to produce cars solely in other markets; Chicago Chevrolet has their American car line up as well as other models aimed specifically at the European market.  The CEO of Ford Motor Company wants to downsize their nameplate count to 20 or 25.

Some of the current Ford models are direct competitors for the vehicles found at Fort Lauderdale Sprinter Vans.  When CEO Alan Mulally took control in 2006, there were 97 different nameplates associated with the Ford name.  That is mainly due to the fact that Ford was the parent company of the Premier Automotive Group, which was an assortment of luxury lines from the prior CEO Jacques Nasser.  Mulally quickly dismantled the Premier Automotive Group, selling off Aston Martin, Jaguar, and Land Rover.  Just last month Volvo was sold to China for $1.3 billion, the last of the group to go.  Just like gardening, it doesn't make sense to waste your energy reviving something when you could put that energy into supporting your current growth and success.

It has already been made public that the Mercury line up will be phased out completely by the end of this year and there are also rumors swirling that Lincoln may soon follow suit.  Nonetheless, Mulally wants to trim off the dead weight and will be discontinuing the models that aren't as popular as others.  Also, he will be consolidating some of the global car designs so that productions costs will be less. 

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