If there were any doubts about reports that the American auto industry is on the mend, they were laid to rest today with the release of J.D. Power and Associates’ 2010 Initial Quality Study (IQS). Domestic brands, as a whole, demonstrated higher initial quality than the imports for the first time in the study’s 24-year history. And, not surprisingly, Ford Motor Co. led the reformation.
Even before the Big Three went to Washington with their hats in hand back in the fall of 2008, Ford had been making sound decisions about the direction of the business. One of the pivotal moves it made was hiring Alan Mulally, the automaker’s current CEO, from Boeing. By focusing on the company’s balance sheet and leveraging its assets, Mulally was able to cut costs, put money in the bank and avoid taking government bailout money, unlike the other two big American automakers. While this endeared the brand to a financially strapped American public, it also gave Mulally the money needed to aggressively restructure the company and, more importantly, develop better automobiles.
