Mercedes Benz

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co.'s product development direction has taken a drastic turn under new CEO Jim Hackett. No longer is the automaker content to compete in segments where it can't win, even if that means sacrificing a relatively popular vehicle that brings in more than 200,000 sales a year, as in the case of the Fusion sedan, which will leave the U.S. by early next decade. And it wants to further capitalize on the strengths of its best-selling F-series pickups and Transit vans while expanding its utility lineup to include fun off-roaders and more performance-oriented crossovers. By 2020, Ford expects 86 percent of its volume will come from pickups, SUVs and commercial vehicles. Its Lincoln luxury brand is taking a similar tone, placing more of an emphasis on utilities, including the Nautilus, Aviator and Navigator, as it continues the climb back to relevancy. The brands' biggest problem in recent years has been a dearth of new product. The Escape and Explorer crossovers, ...

Hackett, in a 2015 photo, did a brief stint as Michigan's interim athletic director. Photo credit: UM Athletic Department Imagine GM CEO Mary Barra plays on Ohio State's offensive line. That's basically how Jim Hackett pictures her. The Ford Motor Co. CEO says he got the idea from his football coach at the University of Michigan, the late Bo Schembechler. Hackett, a backup center on Schembechler's powerhouse teams in the mid-1970s, was a guest on this week's episode of "Attack Each Day," a weekly podcast hosted by Michigan's current coach, Jim Harbaugh, and his father, Jack. Hackett explained one of Schembechler's motivational strategies: "He would have your position and your name, 'Jim Hackett,' and he'd have the center from Ohio State, and he'd say, 'Are you going to outplay him today?'?So I do this thing where I go, 'Is Jim Hackett going to outplay Mary Barra today?'?" He continued: "Is Clare Bra...