I had a dream last night.’ I was in some Midwestern state, walking out of a diner towards my car.’ I couldn’t find my metallic blue Endeavor.’ I hit the panic button on my remote, and a stunning piece of machinery, straight from Detroit, answered me.’ It was an SUV that may be more aptly described as a very large muscle car.’ It had the heft of an Explorer with the brawn of a pony that only Ford could build.’ Image the front-end of the latest generation Mustang with the hard lines of a Dodge pickup truck.’ It sat low on large wheels, and was definitely powered by a 5.0-liter V8, at the very least.’ My vision was none other than the resurrection of the Ford Bullitt.

I’m not talking about the Bullitt-brand Mustang that Ford is releasing.’ I’m talking about a mythical Bullitt for a new century.’ After wasting R&D on such bland vehicles as the Edge, Explorer, Five Hundred, Freestyle, and Fusion, Ford has some serious catching up to do in the styling department.’ Even companies like Toyota, with a long and notorious history for being pasty, are releasing stunning and bold vehicles- I use the FJ Cruiser as a prominent example.’ Ford threw us a bone with the new Mustang, granted, but why should gorgeous styling be relegated to a niche car?

After several new product releases that have been less than stellar, I feel no need to shed tears over Bill Ford’s removal of himself as CEO of Ford Motor Co.’ In a move that I consider both well-reasoned and radical, President and CEO of Boeing, Alan Muallaly, will succeed him.

It is my belief and my hope that Mr. Muallaly, as an outsider and lay consumer of automobiles, will truly appreciate the potential strengths that Ford has as a domestic brand with a long history of producing beautiful machines.’ If Muallaly’s record at Boeing means anything, then he will likely succeed where Bill Ford, entrenched in the daily muck of the company for decades, so miserably failed.’ As Zeiter Deutsch so aptly demonstrated during his tenure as Chrysler’s CEO, you don’t need superior quality to sell cars- it’s all about soul.