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The Bottom Line
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Your essential guide to global business and technology
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A trip abroad to interview the boss of a big company usually involves an overnight stay in a hotel near the company headquarters and an hour in their office accompanied by a selection of underlings. While any opportunity to speak to a CEO is valuable, the chance to join one as they go about their business is usually better still. That’s why I agreed to a more unusual offer—to join Jim Farley, boss of Ford, on part of a road trip from Germany to Italy. And that’s how I ended up in Thaur, a picturesque Austrian village near Innsbruck, in a quaint geranium-bedecked inn. A ruined castle lay just a punishing walk up a mountain track away.
The purpose of my stay, as I explain in
my article this week,
was to rendezvous with Mr Farley, as he undertook a three-day 500-mile (800km) jaunt in a convoy of Transit vans. The purpose of his journey was to test out these vehicles made by Ford’s hugely profitable commercial-vehicle arm as well as meet employees, dealers and customers along the way to hear directly what they think about his vans. Yet from my misguided ascent to the castle while awaiting the arrival of the Ford team to the schnitzel and potato salad at lunch in Innsbruck’s old town the next day, I have scarcely had a more unusual but worthwhile encounter with a big boss.
My only gripe is that it required the sort of early start that I pursued a career in journalism to avoid. After the convoy rolled out of Thaur at the crack of dawn the first stop was straightforward: a meeting for Mr Farley with the owner at a Ford dealership on the outskirts of Innsbruck. The next stop was less so: a cable-car station at Axamer Lizum constructed by Fröschl, a large company more associated with constructing commercial buildings and roads, which runs a fleet of 400 Ford vehicles. It is the first time I have hitched a ride in a cable-car gondola with a CEO, and maybe it was a similar first for Eduard Fröschl, representing the family firm.
The blazing sunshine only made the views at 2,340m of Tyrolean mountainscapes more mesmerising. Mr Fröschl took the opportunity to explain how for some jobs in these remote locations diesel and hybrid was still a better choice than a full electric vehicle. Back at the bottom Christian Reutz, whose family bakery’s fleet of Fords supplies 40 cafés in the region, handed out delectable rolls and cakes from a battery-powered Transit. Between mouthfuls I dutifully noted his comments that the regenerative braking system lasted a lot longer hauling his fare up and down steep mountain roads than the pads and discs on fossil-fuel vans.
The next stage of the journey, the interview, was equally unconventional. This took place in a hybrid Transit van with Mr Farley at the wheel and me in the passenger seat. Although we talked about Ford more generally the focus was on Ford Pro, the incredibly profitable commercial-vehicle division. I am drawn to writing about things that are fundamentally important to how the world functions but are often taken for granted, such as container shipping and lifts. Vans and other commercial vehicles also fit that bill.
Interview concluded, I was dropped off and given a lift back to Innsbruck while Mr Farley and his crew continued to their destination—the Formula 1 race at Monza. Ford supplies the engines to the Red Bull team. He wanted to talk about tech transfer, as Red Bull are the “best in the world” at predictive failure of important components. If only more encounters with top executives were as unpredictable and entertaining.
Please write to us with your thoughts at:
thebottomline@economist.com.
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Fast fact: In 1965 students from Barking College near London set a record when 48 squeezed themselves into a Transit minibus. | | |
Your preview of next week | | |
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Monday October 7th
Car sales in Russia have rebounded from their nadir in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Chinese carmakers have largely filled the gap left by European companies subjected to sanctions. The latest sales figures are released by the Association of European Businesses, which is based in Moscow.
Tuesday October 8th
PepsiCo reports earnings. A few years of hefty price rises for drinks and snacks have taken their toll and sales volumes have now lost their fizz. Consumers have become more cost-conscious, says Pepsi.
America’s monthly trade deficit widened to $78.8bn in July, the most since June 2022. August’s figure is released.
Wednesday October 9th
India’s central bank meets to decide interest rates. It has kept its benchmark rate at 6.5% since February 2023, but a poll of economists by Reuters expects a cut sometime in this fourth quarter.
After two months of decline German exports bucked up in July. Data for August are published. An early forecast of German exports to non-EU countries suggests there will be another fall.
Thursday October 10th
America publishes inflation data for September. The headline annual rate dropped to 2.5% in August, though the core rate remained elevated at 3.2%.
Argentina also puts out inflation numbers. The year-on-year rate is forecast to drop to around 200%, roughly back to where it was in December. The month-on-month rate should also fall, from August’s 4.2%.
Elon Musk is expected to unveil a new prototype for Tesla’s first robo-taxi at a special event that was delayed from August.
Investors will note Seven & i’s earnings, its first since rejecting a takeover offer from Alimentation Couche-Tard. The takeover fight for the owner of the 7-Eleven chain could kick-start merger activity in Japan. However, Bloomberg reports that Seven & i has sought protection from the Japanese government by wanting to be classified as a “core” company.
Domino’s Pizza delivers its results. Its franchise business in China recently served up its interim report. Pizza is popular in China. The franchise operates in 33 cities, including Hong Kong and Macau, and plans to open its 1,000th store this quarter.
Friday October 11th
JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo kick off the third-quarter earnings season for America’s big banks.
Slowing car sales in Europe are expected to hit results from TomTom, a global provider of location technology used in satellite-navigation devices. The Dutch company has expanded its relationship with Microsoft. It also provides route plans displaying charging points for electric vehicles, easing what is a perpetual source of anxiety for those motorists. | | |
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To Western palates baijiu is an acquired taste—and most never acquire it. China’s national fire water, at first whiff redolent of cheap potato vodka with a soupçon of fish sauce, is just too pungently unfamiliar. But whatever foreign investors plied with the stuff by their Chinese business partners make of the flavour, they appear to be lapping up shares in its makers. | | | |
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