Those new products will be the core of Ford s brand turnaround strategy. Ford s image has been inconsistent from one European country to another, Scheele said. He blamed that partly on the fact that brand messages in each country have been driven by the national sales companies. To get the message across, the company s European leaders have met in recent weeks at headquarters in Cologne, Germany. They will present the message about the Ford brand to employees and customers.
People have to viscerally understand.
The brand image has to drive the creation of the vehicle. The brand has to be obvious to consumers. European operations will take advantage of electronic commerce partnerships coming out of Ford headquarters in Dearborn, he said. Ford also is saving money by streamlining regional back-office functions. Those functions already have been combined in the Nordic, Benelux and Central Europe regions.