Taylor takes a step into the unknown

THE outgoing managing director of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group division Land Rover, Matthew Taylor, has admitted that his decision to move outside the auto sector was one of the biggest gambles of his career.

In an exclusive interview with GoAuto this week, Mr Taylor, who spent 18 months in Australia as Ford’s marketing chief during the troubled AU Falcon period, talked positively of the Ford culture, his relationship with former Ford Australia chief (and now Land Rover and Jaguar chief executive) Geoff Polites, and his departure from the automotive world.

He said his new role as managing director of JCB Global Sales, a UK-based global heavy industry company that builds construction and agricultural equipment, would be similar to the one he was leaving at Land Rover. But the move was not without risk.

"It is a gamble," he said. "I fit well inside Ford, it’s my comfort zone."Mr Taylor said he felt he had performed well at Land Rover "so it would be very easy and tempting to stay put". "But I do like a challenge and this is a big personal challenge to prove to myself that I can do it," he said. "This is my adventure and I’m really looking forward to it."The challenge at JCB was "to try and run a business without the massive support structure of a Ford Motor Company around me". He said that with JCB there was "nowhere to hide" – "I like the prospect of really living and dying by my own decisions and actions." JCB employs more than 5000 people and builds more than 180 pieces of machinery on four different continents – with bases in the UK, US, India, South America and Australia.

Mr Taylor, 45, said he remembers fondly his stint at Ford Australia.

When he took over as the company's sales and marketing vice-president in 1999, the AU Falcon was being pillared for its styling.

Mr Taylor did not shy away from the widespread belief that Ford had missed its mark with the car and was quick to realise a marketing fix was required.

"There were some big challenges early on with the early acceptance of the AU," he said. "But we took quick actions to address immediate concerns where we could and under Geoff (Polites’) leadership we got the BA and the Territory under way, and then just got our heads down to try and do the business.

"We introduced other models like the FTE (Ford Tickford Experience) products, the Ka, got the F Series program going, and we did see share rise during the time I was there, albeit not to the levels that we wanted it.

"The vast majority of them were very talented and very determined to make a real success of the Ford business for us and for the dealers and make a lot of customers happy along the way."His overriding memory of Australia was the talent pool at Ford.

"Under Geoff’s leadership there really was a can-do attitude about the team in Ford Australia," he said. "It is a rarity in Ford to find a relatively small business unit, like Australia, that controls most of its own destiny and gets a reasonably free hand to get on and do what it has to do for the business.

"In those circumstances, and with a lean team, you just want to be as nimble as possible so you can react to what’s happening in the market at the right time.

"At times that nimbleness can hide from view in some of the bigger parts of the company."Mr Taylor said he had huge respect for Mr Polites, who is now charged with maintaining the momentum achieved with Land Rover and resurrecting the struggling Jaguar brand.

Left: Geoff Polites ladling soup for Ford workers in 2001.

"I have immense respect for Geoff. He is open, approachable, very experienced – and he used that to really help guide his and our thinking – caring, very straight – no hidden agenda."So far this year, Land Rover is the only Ford brand showing a sales gain in Europe. Its sales are up 13.3 per cent so far to 11,721 units, according to the latest data from the European car-makers’ association ACEA. In 2005, Land Rover set a sales record of 185,120, up 14 per cent over 2004.

"The single most important factor in helping us deliver our results is teamwork, not just between Geoff and myself but all through the organisation, and it helps when it’s led that way from the top."Mr Taylor said his most recent experience at Land Rover had been a career highlight.

"Being able to say that the team here turned it from a loss-making business to one of the most profitable parts of the Ford Motor Company," he said. "In doing that there were many highlights, the bottom line is that we turned the brand and the business around and delivered on our commitments."Mr Taylor said that although he would miss Land Rover, he believed the opportunity at JCB needed taking.

"I wasn’t actually looking for another job at all," he said. "The attraction came once I began to look into the brand and understand how strong it is, the breadth of the business, the challenges and opportunities they face and the fact that I could help them grow and become stronger."Of his replacement, Phil Popham, Mr Taylor said Land Rover would have an energetic, proven, visionary leader "who can move the brand even further forward". Mr Popham is currently director of Land Rover’s European operations.

He assumes his new role next month.

Mr Taylor was born in Uruguay. The son of a diplomat, he graduated from the London School of Economics before joining the Royal Navy in 1981. He served in the Falklands aboard HMS Invincible and became a first lieutenant, aboard HMS Protector, before leaving the Royal Navy in 1985 to pursue a career with Ford.

Established in 1945, the JCB group is said to be the world’s largest privately owned construction and agricultural equipment manufacturing business.

Last year JCB embarked on a worldwide expansion push to mark its 60th year, acquiring land in Shanghai for a new Chinese factory, as well as spending $40 million to build a factory in India.