That perspective, in part, drove Nasser to invest in early September in Microsoft's MSN CarPoint web service. The goal was not, as some might imagine, to sell cars directly to customers over the Internet and to bypass dealers. The most valuable aspect of its partnership with CarPoint is the access that Ford now has to large amounts of customer data about car design, color, feature preferences and so on. Mining this data will enable Ford to better understand its customers, which Nasser sees as Ford's core mission. But if you are mesmerized by profits, you'll never get them.
Business is about nurturing customers.
Profits are a measure, over time, of how well you are doing that. Nasser believes that the combination of the Internet with manufacturing will give companies opportunities to get closer to customers than ever before. Traditionally, auto companies designed vehicles, manufactured them, sold them through dealers, and didn't hear from customers for at least another three years until they returned to make their next purchase. The Internet, however, changes all that by giving customers power over crucial design and feature decisions. We'll get unfiltered information about what our customers want, and that will affect the entire value chain.