Ford shares the Love

It looks like Ford is willing to pay and pay well for its top brass and it looks like CEO Allan Mulally has been given the biggest piece of that.

From Automotive news

-- Mulally was paid a base salary of $2 million and incentive bonus awards of $7 million. The $21.7 million total included salary, bonuses, company-recognized expense for stock options and other stock awards, plus other compensation such as vehicle and travel expenses.
Mulally collected $28.2 million in 2006, which included $11 million to compensate him for compensation forfeited when he left his previous employer, Boeing Co.

Amazingly I have no qualms with this as long a he delivers and Ford returns to profitability,otherwise this is just an example of how the compensation plan at the top doesn't seem to reflect what the rest of the world considers a reasonable salary .

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The next volley in the never ending saga

Well there's not much I could say that wouldn't be better served with a link.

Now according to the latest dirt, Former Toyota exec Jim Press may be softening his stance, read the following Link and decide for yourself.

Take a look

Name calling at Toyota?

It seems that  there's a bit of name calling going on at Toyota after former Toyota exec Jim Press made accusations that the Japanese government subsidized all of the development costs of the hybrid technology in Toyotas little Prius.

It's hard to believe that Jim Press would just make this all up so that he could get  a little attention for himself and one has to believe that he would have been in the position to know.

The bigger question here is that if this turned out to be true then Toyota would have a distinct advantage over it's competitors. After all if someone else pays for a great deal of your development costs than your profit margins should be rather generous and you could  sell your product at a price that would under cut your competitors if you wanted .

Another point to make, Toyota is no longer the under dog, it's amazing that the Japanese government is still willing to go that extra mile  for a company that now has more money than some small countries and has surpassed its American competitors in size and revenue.

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Ford Finalizing Flex marketing strategy

With Fords upcoming Flex maxi sized crossover getting ready to debut at dealers soon, Ford marketing mavens are putting the final touches on the cars marketing strategy.

Love or hate the Flex it will certainly be different from everything that's presently out there, I'm not so sure that this is the kind of different that Ford needs  especially in this segment where safe and competent is what people are looking for.

The Flex has the kind of styling that polarizes most people in one way or the other, and right now what Ford needs is something that straddles the line between being attractive and practical.

This beast may do well or wallow in the showroom,and with gasoline edging toward 4 dollars per gallon the one thing that could sway people in the direction of this crossover is markedly better miles per gallon than what the Expedition, the Flex's cubic foot competitor can deliver .

Lets hope that this one will go right out of the ball park.