Ford Focuses on Design

Ford Focuses on Design
American style may save the struggling domestic car industry.

Think bold. Think strong. Think voluptuous. Think flamboyant.

Just don't think '50's or '60's retro.

We're talking about the future, after all, says a top Ford Motor Co. design executive and Cuyahoga Falls native.

Patrick Schiavone, design director for Ford, Lincoln and Mercury cars in North America and a 1976 graduate of Walsh Jesuit High School, said distinctive, great-looking vehicles will help his company better compete for customers.

"It is the key," he said.

Schiavone spoke Friday at the Ford exhibit in the I-X Center in Cleveland, where the annual Greater Cleveland International Auto Show opened to the public at 11 a.m. yesterday and runs through March 5.

Besides Ford, executives from General Motors and employees from GM's Lordstown Assembly plant made presentations on Friday.

Ford and General Motors could use some excitement -- of the good kind -- to regain profitability and stop losing market share to rivals, primarily Japanese automaker Toyota.

Meanwhile, highly profitable Toyota has passed Ford as the world's second largest automaker; if Toyota's sales continue to grow, it could surpass GM in the next few years as the world's largest automaker.