“Bunkie Knudsen never had a chance at Ford. It was not that he lacked the skill to handle the job; indeed, that was something that almost never came up. It was that Ford was so different from GM. He was a product of the GM system, and the system worked, and it protected those who had mastered it. General Motors was a gray place and in comparison with Ford a somewhat boring place. Decisions on people’s futures seemed to have been made some twenty years before they actually were announced.
By contrast, Ford, reflecting the influence of the two family figures who had led the company, was a highly political place, filled with cliques and feuds and constant infighting, all under the eye, if not the actual instigation, of the two Henry Fords. Knudsen thought the organizational structure would work loyally for him because he was president, and that having the title of president was quite enough. At GM the organization was, above all else, loyal. He did not bring over many of his own people from GM. (He tried to bring DeLorean, already a star at GM, and he failed; had he succeeded his tenure at Ford might have been different.) Indeed, he brought just enough people to unsettle Iacocca loyalists but not enough to take command of the company.”
— David Halberstam, The Reckoning (1986, p. 378)
RE:SOURCES
- Halberstam, David; 1986. The Reckoning. William Morrow & Co., New York, NY.
ADVERTISING & BROCHURES
- oldcarbrochures.org: Ford Thunderbird (1970)
Also see ‘Lee Iacocca got lucky with the 1964-66 Ford Mustang’
Didn’t also Iacocca once mentioned in his biography then “Bunkie” treated Henry Ford II like a simple pawl, buddy or Bunkie appeared in Henry Ford II’s office without warning?
It could be interesting to wonder what if Bunkie’s tenure at Ford was different and more successeful? Imagine what if convinced DeLorean to move to Ford?
That’s an interesting question, Stรฉphane. I would be a wee bit hesitant to take everything that Iacocca wrote at face value, but clearly Knudsen failed in rather spectacular fashion to effectively navigate the Ford Motor Company’s complicated organizational culture.
How would DeLorean have done at Ford? I wouldn’t be surprised if he flamed out quickly. He seemed to be as much of a media hot dog as Iacocca, which apparently Henry Ford II didn’t appreciate. DeLorean may have also pissed off Henry because of his then-exotic ideas, such as downsizing big cars (Henry supposedly liked them big). And if the reports about DeLorean’s predilection toward unethical behavior are accurate, he could have gotten the boot just based on that.
I also wonder whether DeLorean had as much of a feel for what sold in the 1970s as he did in the 1960s. Iacocca’s fixation with the brougham vibe got rather repetitive after a while, but it did align fairly well with the times. It isn’t clear from DeLorean’s tenure at Chevrolet how his sensibility had evolved since his Pontiac days.
Karl Ludvigsen’s Substack newsletter has a fascinating story on his involvement with DeLorean’s GM book (go here).
Knudsen failed to populate Ford’s top management with enough allies to ensure its loyalty, but it’s interesting to note that one reason Henry Ford II fired Iacocca was because he believed that Iacocca HAD too many loyalists in Ford’s top management. In the words of one observer, Iacocca forgot that it was the FORD Motor Company, and not the Iacocca Motor Company.
When Iacocca went to Chrysler, he did not repeat Knudsen’s mistake. He replaced existing executives with loyalists he had recruited from Ford. He finally did create the Iacocca Motor Company.
It was common to hear of Ford referred to as Fords’ – possessive plural. As in the Ford family’s fiefdom. Lots of stories of how one’s career possibilities were dependent upon getting and keeping a close standing with one of the Ford family members. It has long been considered that the internal politics of Ford is played as a blood sport.
Knudsen tried to bring others to Ford with him. For fact, he tried hard to get Chuck Jordan for Design.
Knudsen was doomed because he got out maneuvered quickly by Iacocca and his cronies that did not like that the company politics and pecking orders were getting changed with an “outsider”. HFII was left with little choice but to give in to the Iacocca group’s demand for Knudsen’s ouster as there were too many senior executives that were threatening to leave. But, HFII apparently never forgave Iacocca for organizing the insurection.
At least Knudsen in his brief time was able to approve the Continental Mark IV instead of the hideous creation that Iacocca and Bordinat wanted.