It was arguably the darkest hour for American automakers: Struggling with the collapse of the global economy, the U.S. government in 2008 bailed out General Motors and Chrysler with generous loans that incited rancor and debate across the country. Not so with Ford.
It seemed rather a risk for the iconic marketer to turn down the Troubled Asset Relief Program; it wasn’t as though the brand that Henry built wasn’t in trouble like its Detroit counterparts — the company lost $14.6 billion in 2008. But turning down the funds turned out to be a sage move.
When asked just how much declining TARP funds was worth, Ford marketing chief Jim Farley doesn’t hesitate: “I think it was worth more than $1 billion of coverage and customer interest,” he said. “If I had to go out and advertise, it would be that kind of bill in paid media. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”
Most top marketing officers would kill for $1 billion in free goodwill. But for Farley, that was just the beginning of a long road that helped the grand dame of automakers survive the Great Recession — with a little bit of luck, a little bit of timing and a little bit of chutzpah. Ford is now firmly entrenched back in the No. 2 spot for U.S. sales among automakers, with 17 percent of the U.S. auto and light-truck market in the first nine months of 2010, behind GM.
The company’s products are better than ever, promoted and marketed by a revamped strategy headed by Farley. U.S. yearly sales are up 19 percent through September, almost double the industry-wide gain of 10 percent. Ford’s $4.7 billion profit in the first six months of this year is the company’s largest since 1998.
