Ford CEO Takes National Radio Audience on Tour of New Plant

DEARBORN, MI — Marketplace, the nationally broadcast radio program that focuses on business and the economy, toured the Ford River Rouge complex recently and interviewed CEO Mark Fields about the company's past, its future and its complicated relationship with Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Fields downplayed the sometimes contentious nature of his relationship with Trump over the past year and a half of campaigning. "We work with whatever administration is in power and very productively," he told Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal.

In the interview, Fields discusses his reasoning behind the automaker becoming an "auto and mobility company."

"The transportation systems that have served us so well around the world for the last 100 years—they’re not going to work for the next hundred years when you look at population densities in cities. You know, today 50% of the population around the world lives in cities. That’s probably going to grow to 60%-65% in the next 15 years. That means there’s more congestion, more traffic. So we’re stepping back and saying, you know, people are really going from a mindset of owning vehicles to owning them and sharing them, when you look at things like Uber etcetera. And we’re stepping back and we’re saying to ourselves, how do we thrive in that environment? And that’s why we’re going from an auto to auto and mobility company.”

Fields contends that founder Henry Ford would be extremely proud of the company today, especially its innovative nature.

“If you think about Henry Ford, he was the leading disruptor in his day. Whether it was the moving assembly line or the $5 a day wage or the first affordable v8 engine. And I think he would walk into this plant and say “Good job. You guys are continuing to look around the corner and say what does it take to move this business ahead. Not only in the next 12 months, but in the next ten years."


Photo by Ford Motor Company