AUTO MANIA

by Dr. Iain Corness
Niki Bites the Dust

It is old news by now that Niki Lauda has bitten the dust (just like Lauda Air did a few years back too) and Jaguar Racing have gone through their fourth Team Principal in as many years.

Lauda is well remembered for his amazing comeback from extensive burns after crashing at the German GP in 1976, to then win the world championship in 1977. What is forgotten is that he could have won the title in 1976 as he was still leading going into the final round in Japan, but elected to withdraw in the torrential rain as he considered it to be unsafe conditions for racing, thus handing the title to England’s James Hunt. He was also the race winner in Sweden in the famous Brabham “fan car” that was only raced once and put away in the back shed for being outside the spirit of the regulations. Ah, if only such sportsmanship were alive today!

But today, motor racing is just big business, and when the team owner is Ford Motor Company, and FoMoCo has been hurting (see interview with Bill Ford this week), then all non-core businesses are going to be sharing that hurt too. As part of the cost-cutting, Jaguar are losing between 40-60 engineers, as well as Lauda - and that saving would be enough to keep you and me in bottled beer for the rest of our lives!

Having said all that, in my mind there are doubts as to whether Niki was all that good as a race team principal/manager. Lauda Air was not a success, when Niki was at the helm, and when you look at other drivers-turned-team-owners then few have had success either. Jackie Stewart and Alain Prost both floundered as race team owners - Jackie the canny Scotsman, got out in time, selling to Ford, while Alain did not, falling down the sink-hole of insolvency. Certainly Black Jack Brabham was a world champion and a very canny race team owner - but he is in the minority.

It will now be interesting to see how the new face at Jaguar will do. They have two young drivers, Weber who has proved his mettle in F1 and Pizzonia anxious to prove his, and the new car cannot be worse than the previous one. 2003 will either make or break Jaguar Racing. Bill Ford will not put up with another debacle of a year.


Looking for a mutual bright future? Just ask Qiangtai

Anyone who thinks that the Chinese auto industry is so far behind us that they do not need to look to the north, should think again. The Chinese are ready and are even becoming aggressive with their marketing techniques. Recently I received an email from Qiangtai Motor Parts Co which has its headquarters in Xianyan Wenzhou Zhejiang China. I am not going to try and tell you where that is, but for the point of this exercise it is unimportant, other than the fact that this email came straight out of China.

Qiangtai Motor Parts Co felt it was good for me to know that they have been in business since 1989 and has “hundreds of employees, including thirties (sic) senior technicians and engineers.” They have ISO 9001 (though I always suspect that in Asia the number after the letters ISO refer to the number of people whose palm has to be greased before granting the title)! Please, that’s a joke - no outraged letters from ISO people!!

Qiangtai make all sorts of bits for motorbikes, shockers, mirrors, speedometers etc and the email made the promise, “All our staff believe, quality has no crest, but better. We sincerely welcome all the clients and customers to contact us to do business under any style. Let’s create a mutual bright future!”

So it’s 10 out of 10 for effort for this group. Just in case they can do something for you I shall reward them by giving the contact details.

Qiangtai Motor Parts Co. Ltd.

TEL 0086-577-85301589

FAX 0086-577-85303588

URL:www.mpkingdom.com

EMAIL: [email protected]

ADDRESS:29# Suifeng Industrial Zone Xianyan Wenzhou Zhejiang China 325062


Bill Ford takes the reins and wants to hang onto them

When Bill Ford, of the famous founding Ford family took over the reins at FoMoCo after the dumping of previous boss Jac Nasser, many thought that this was a fine example of nepotism at the top of the world’s number two car maker. The company could get a “Ford” as a figurehead, but that was not quite what they got.

Bill Ford

Bill Ford’s mission was to get the company to turn around and he said he would do this by going back to basics and concentrating on what FoMoCo knew best - making cars and trucks. Since then the company has sold off many motor sideline businesses, and whilst the books are still not all that healthy for an enterprise of the size of Ford, they are certainly better than before.

After one year in the “Blue Oval” office, Automotive News interviewed Bill Ford and his forthright replies I found very enlightening. Here are a couple of topics from the very lengthy interview.

(AN) “Do you plan to be in this job as the CEO beyond the turnaround?”

(BF) “Oh yes. I will be here as long as anybody wants me here. I love this place and I am not looking to hand this off. I will take great satisfaction when we get the results of the turnaround fully implemented and going forward.

“Someday will my role change? Maybe. Nothing lasts forever. But I am committed to seeing this company back on its feet and doing well. I was committed and I never looked back. This isn’t something I look at as a part-time job. Or something I looked at as I am going to just do until I can get out of here as fast as I possibly can. I love this company. I will do whatever I can to help it. I think I can drive it from this job very well.”

(AN) “A year ago you said you felt obliged to take the job because you cared about the company and what the company would be for your kids down the road and their kids, as if you might not want to stay on the job until you are 65.”

(BF) “There are days I am not sure I am going to make it until the next morning. It is hard to look that far down the road.

“Part of it is just my personality. I have never wanted to plan my life out that far in advance. I was surprised when I read earlier this year, “He is reluctant,” or “He doesn’t want to do it.” Then I looked back. I read some interviews I did 10 or 15 years ago. Even back then, I was saying, “I don’t know what next year will hold for me. I like what I am doing now. We’ll see.”

“I have always taken this place a year at a time. I’ve always taken my life that way. I have never been one to plan out the next 20 years. Because nothing ever turns out the way you plan anyway. Also, it is just my nature not to lock myself into something, any kind of mindset.

“But having said that, I can’t imagine doing anything else at this point. I am committed to the success of this company.”

Automotive News also dealt with the “Back to Basics” concept.

(AN) “You may think this question is absurd given what you have been through in the last year. But in dwelling on back to basics is there a danger the pendulum swings too far back and you create a culture that cannot be creative and bring out the next big thing?”

(BF) “There is always a risk in that. To me, back to basics wasn’t turning back the clock. It was refocusing on our core business. There is a difference.

“Some of the things we have done really do go back to where we were before. For instance, the organization itself is less matrixed. We have eliminated most of that in favor of mostly straight-line reporting relationships, clear lines of authority and delineation.

“While that is kind of more traditional, we are driving the system to be creative. Again, I look to Ford of Europe. They have been very opportunistic and creative in their product formation.

“Back to basics, heck that’s where they were. They never tried to be anything other than a terrific car and truck company. That allowed them to be more creative because they were more focused on their core business.

“That is my hope for the entire company - not that we become more stodgy. If we do that, we will have failed. But that in fact, by being more focused, it will allow us to be more creative and more innovative.

“We’ve got things like the hybrid Escape coming next year, which is a break into a whole new direction for us. That technology, if it is successful, we can migrate relatively quickly to other vehicle lines.

“What I want us to do is to be focused enough so that if something like that does hit, we can quickly respond and take it into other directions. I actually think I am freeing up our car and truck people to be more creative because there are no other things to be distracted by anymore.”


Autotrivia Quiz

Last week I said to remember the Tipo 815? Now recall that the first “Ferrari’s” were actually Alfa Romeo’s modified for Scuderia Ferrari, but in the Tipo 815 we had Enzo’s design for a car. A light tubular chassis with an inline 8 cylinder engine, which was made by cobbling a couple of FIAT engines together. The question was, who actually made this car? The answer was Nardi and Cia in Turin in 1940.

So to this week. DKW the German car and bike manufacturer was founded by Jorgen Skafte Rasmussen. What did the initials stand for?

For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct answer to email [email protected]

Good luck!