竞争升级，福特挖通用汽车墙脚

    福特汽车公司（Ford Motor Co.）与通用汽车公司（General Motors）一直是竞争对手，现在，福特正在将竞争升级。英国WPP PLC公司旗下的Team Detroit是福特的广告代理公司，该公司计划聘请马克•拉内韦担任首席运营官。现年53岁的拉内韦之前曾经长期担任通用汽车高管，在通用2009年破产后离职。

    直到今年2月，拉内韦在位于伊利诺斯州诺斯布鲁克的好事达公司（Allstate Corp.）担任首席营销官，现在，他将担任Team Detroit首席执行官萨蒂什•科德的副手。据熟悉Team Detroit公司的人士透露，拉内韦将占据关键岗位，指挥福特的全球营销事务。本刊未能马上联系到福特公司发言人对此事置评。

    拉内韦的任命是底特律在短短几天内的第二起高管人事变动，就在上周日，通用汽车首席营销官乔尔•伊万尼克突然辞职。接近通用汽车的人士声称，雪佛兰品牌与曼联队之间的营销协议存在“不当行为”，从而导致了伊万尼克下台。伊万尼克拒绝对此发表评论。

    顶层人事变动凸显随着汽车制造商已经慢慢开始从本轮金融危机中恢复元气，福特和通用汽车之间的对抗正在加剧。美国这两大本土汽车制造商发现，在从加州到加尔各答的全球主要市场上，它们之间的竞争比以往任何时候都要激烈。在美国市场上，通用汽车销售额排在首位，福特位居第二。而在全球范围内，通用汽车正在与丰田（Toyota）和大众（Volkswagen）争夺头把交椅。福特则仅位居前六名之列。

    能够在全球范围内有效部署数十亿美元广告和促销预算的顶级营销高管现在似乎在这一争夺中扮演关键角色。仍有26%股票掌握在美国政府手中的通用汽车发现自己的营销业务突然没了领头羊，至少暂时是如此。与此同时，福特聘请了一位曾经的通用汽车高管，他熟悉自己的老东家、现在已经是对手的文化和战术。福特还聘请了至少三位前通用汽车公共关系主管就职于其广告代理公司。

    吉姆•法利是福特的首席营销官，由执行董事长小比尔•福特从丰田汽车挖过来。法利一直十分蔑视通用汽车。《纽约时报》（New York Times）记者比尔•弗拉西克在其2011年出版的《汽车往事》（Once Upon a car）一书中，曾引述法利称“（他）想重创通用汽车。他带着稍显邪恶的笑容说道：‘我将迎头痛击雪佛兰。而且我将享受胜利的喜悦。’”（法利后来告诉记者，他后来给伊万尼克打过电话，向他道歉。）

    拉内韦在其职业生涯早期曾就职于沃尔沃（Volvo），其间这家瑞典公司一度被福特收归旗下。拉内韦的成名之地主要是在凯迪拉克（Cadillac），并最终负责运行通用汽车旗下这一豪华车品牌。开发并在2002年推出凯迪拉克CTS轿车，拉内韦功不可没，这款轿车为凯迪拉克品牌在美国市场扭转颓势提供了立足点。CTS是今年推出的XTS和ATS车型的先驱。拉内韦在通用汽车经销商中也极富人气，其中很多经销商同时也拥有福特的专营权。

    福特很可能利用拉内韦营销豪华车的经验，试图巩固并振兴表现不佳的林肯系列。这位通用汽车前营销主管将帮助这家急需豪车战略的汽车公司，扩大其在中国市场的营销基础，福特在中国建立伙伴关系起步较晚。在中国这个迅速增长的市场上，通用汽车的凯迪拉克和别克（Buick）品牌已经抢占先机。

    这个职位对拉内韦来说再合适不过。今年早些时候，通用汽车首席执行官丹•艾克森被底特律一家报纸问及福特多年来销量一直在下降的林肯品牌。艾克森没有客气。他说：“他们正想方设法，试图复活林肯品牌。要我说，这根本是白费力气。没戏。”

    拉内韦有一对患有自闭症的双胞胎儿子，在离职并重返底特律地区担任顾问之前的两年里，他每周通勤到好事达总部。拉内韦开始新工作的日期预计将很快就会公布。

    译者：项航

    Ford Motor Co. is escalating its long-standing rivalry with General Motors. Ford's advertising agency, Team Detroit, a unit of Great Britain's WPP PLC, is planning to install Mark LaNeve as its chief operating officer. LaNeve, 53, was a long-time GM executive who left in the wake of the company's 2009 bankruptcy.

    LaNeve, who worked until February as chief marketing officer for Northbrook, Illinois-based Allstate Corp. (ALL), will serve as No. 2 to Satish Korde, Team Detroit's chief executive officer. He will occupy a key post commanding Ford's (F) marketing initiatives worldwide, according to sources close to the company. A Ford spokesperson was not immediately available to provide comment.

    LaNeve's appointment represents the second major power realignment in Detroit in a matter of days, coming on the heels of the abrupt resignation of GM's (GM) CMO Joel Ewanick on Sunday. Sources close to GM claim that "improprieties" in connection with a marketing agreement between its Chevrolet brand and the Manchester United soccer team led to Ewanick's ouster. Ewanick has declined comment.

    The top-level personnel moves highlight the growing confrontation between Ford and GM, as automakers claw their way back from the lows of the financial crisis. More than ever, America's two top domestic automakers find themselves fighting each other in vital markets around the globe, from California to Calcutta. GM ranks number one in U.S. sales, with Ford behind it. Globally, GM competes with Toyota and Volkswagen for the top spot. Ford is in the top six.

    Top marketing executives capable of effectively deploying multi-billion advertising and promotional budgets worldwide appear to now be taking center stage in that struggle. GM, still 26%-owned by the U.S., finds itself without a leader, at least temporarily. Ford, meanwhile, has recruited a onetime GM executive who is conversant with his former employer's -- now adversary's -- culture and tactics. Ford has also hired at least three former GM public relations executives to work for its agencies.

    Jim Farley, Ford's chief marketer who was recruited from Toyota (TM) by executive chairman Bill Ford Jr., has been scathing in his disdain for GM. Farley was quoted in New York Times reporter Bill Vlasic's 2011 book Once Upon A Car, chronicling the collapse of Detroit automaking in 2008 and 2009 saying that "[what he] really wanted to do was kick the daylights out of General Motors. 'I'm going to beat Chevrolet on the head with bat,' he said with a slightly wicked smile. 'And I'm going to enjoy it.'" (Later Farley told reporters he had called Ewanick to apologize.)

    LaNeve, who earlier in his career worked for Volvo, including a period when the Swedish company was owned by Ford, made his reputation mostly at Cadillac, eventually running the GM luxury brand. He was integral to the development and 2002 introduction of the Cadillac CTS sedan, a model that provided a toehold for the brand's turnaround in the U.S. The CTS was the precursor to the XTS and ATS models introduced this year. LaNeve was also extremely popular with GM dealers, many of whom also own Ford franchises.

    Ford is likely to draw on LaNeve's experience as a marketer of luxury automobiles in an attempt to fortify and revive its floundering Lincoln franchise. The former GM marketing executive will be helping a car company that badly needs a luxury strategy, as well as to broaden its marketing base in China, where it was late in establishing partnerships. GM is ahead with its Cadillac and Buick brands in that rapidly growing market.

    LaNeve will have his work cut out for him. Earlier this year, GM Chief Executive Dan Akerson was asked by a Detroit newspaper about Ford's Lincoln brand, whose sales have flagged for years. He didn't hold back. "They are trying like hell to resurrect Lincoln. Well, I might as well tell you, you might as well sprinkle holy water. It's over," Mr. Akerson said.

    The father of twin autistic sons, LaNeve commuted weekly to Allstate headquarters for two years prior to leaving that post and returning to the Detroit area to work as a consultant. LaNeve's start date is expected to be announced shortly.