Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 43

INSIDE: 11B Ford debuts Lincoln Town Car; Fretter out of bidding for Atari subsidiary. 12B. Saturday, Nov. 11, 1989 NASDAQ, Page 12 Mutual Funds, Page 13 NYSE, Page 14 Call Business: 222-8784 1 here's no question he's going to be I elected to the Automotive Hall of Analyst Ronald Glantz Dow up; week ends near even led Ford resur THE DOW 2,625.61 Stock prices closed out an erratic up-and-down week Friday with a rally that featured a few issues benefiting from the political news in Market details Page 14B The Wssaw improvement in cars, profit By Janet braunstein Free Press Automotive Writer i i 1 km Carnitine In billions 1985: TaurusSable hit the market in December, popularizing the "aero" look. Taurus is the first of four Ford cars in five years that will win the coveted Motor Trend Domestic Car of the Year award.

1986: Profits set three successive records in 1986, '87 and '88 as Petersen's Ford out-earned archrival GM for the first time in modern times. $6.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 1984: Mazda, 25 percent owned by Ford, unveils plan to make cars in Flat Rock bearing the Mazda and Ford name-plates. 1985: Petersen takes the reins as chairman and builds Ford into a financial services giant with the acquisition of First Nationwide. 1980: Don Petersen named president and chief operating officer. EARLY 1980s: As Ford suffers through the severe recession of 1980-82, Petersen and CEO Philip Caldwell close plants and cut costs, but bless a program for what became the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable in 1986.

0 2.0 80 '81 '82 '83 '84 '85 '86 '87 '88 Germany. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials climbed 21.92 to 2,625.61, finishing the week with a net loss of 3.90 points. Advancing issues outnumbered declines by about 5 to 3 in nationwide trading of New York Stock Exchange-listed stocks, with 901 up, 557 down and 494 unchanged. An Investment Group including Mary Kay Cosmetics has amassed a 5 percent stake in Avon Products it was disclosed Friday in an announcement that sparked speculation about a renewed takeover advance on Avon. Avon earlier this year rebuffed overtures from Mary Kay Corp.

Vice Chairman John P. Rochon and rejected outright takeover proposals from investor Irwin Jacobs and rival direct seller Amway Corp. Phoenix Financier Charles h. Keating claim that federal regulators wrongfully seized Lincoln Savings and Loan Association apparently will get a full hearing in court. U.S.

District Judge Stanley Sporkin Thursday ordered the first of a series of hearings Dec. 7-8 on Keating's lawsuit challenging th "sderal takeover of the ins it American Telephonl Telegraph Co. is making it cheaper for businesses to offer international 800 service, which allows customers to call them toll-free from outside the U.S. MCI Communications Corp. has offered similar service for about a year, a spokesperson said; US Sprint Communications Co.

will add it by mid-1990. In Michigan Car market share By percentage Donald Petersen is widely credited with leading Ford Motor Co. from near-bankruptcy to glory on Wall Street, renewed loyalty in dealer showrooms and the most profitable era in the company's history. "Either he's very smart or lucky or both," said David Healey, an analyst with Drexel Burnham Lambert in New York. Petersen, one of the first product planners in the Ford division when it was formed in the 1950s, became company president in 1980.

That year, Ford lost $1.55 billion. Working together, Petersen and then-Chairman Philip Caldwell set out to improve the quality of Ford products, to cut excess capacity and husband scarce resources, and then to lead the domestic auto industry in vehicle design. As Ford's quality improved, losses eased. In 1983, its first year back in the black, Ford earned $1.8 billion. Ford also introduced the '83 Thunderbird, the first design that revealed Ford's new, aerodynamic styling signature.

In January 1985, Petersen succeeded Caldwell as chairman. In December 1985, Ford introduced the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable, the stunningly rounded sedans that instantly made square-edged cars seem outdated. In their first year, Taurus sales passed 263,000 and Sable sales were close to 99,000. No new car introduced since has been as successful. For Ford, the Taurus also represented something even more important: the first test of a new, efficient teamwork method for designing, producing and selling a car called "simultaneous engineering." Under Petersen, Ford strengthened its partnership with Mazda, relying more heavily on the Japanese company for small-car engineering.

The relationship has produced one successful car, the sporty Ford Probe coupe built at Mazda's factory in Flat If 11' '80 '81 '82 '83 '84 '85 '86 '87 "88 k' Detroit Freo Pr 1 1989: Thunderbird SC named Motor Trend Domestic Car of the Year; Ford, Nissan join forces to build mini-vans in Ohio, beginning in 1992; Ford agrees to sell Rouge Steel to Marico Acquisition; Ford buys Jaguar for $2.5 billion. 1987: Thunderbird turbo coupe named Motor Trend Car of the Year; Mazda starts up production at Flat Rock; Ford acquires majority interest in Aston Martin. omino's Pizza Inc. has hired 1 1 the Austin, Texas-based ad-111 vertising agency Gurasich, jj Spence.Darilek&McClure to handle marketing to the U.S. Hispanic community.

The agency replaces Sosa Associates of San Antonio, Texas, which has handled Domino's Hispanic marketing since 1987. tersen "never at any meeting said anything he did not intend to say, and Petersen was know! to his subordinates as the smiling cobra." In public, Petersen was calm, quiet and gracious. At the podium during Ford annual meetings, his patience with stockholders who trooped to the microphone far outstripped that of Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca or General Motors Chairman Roger Smith. Petersen's legendary control broke only once in public, when he was often choked by tears in the days following Henry Ford II's death in September 1987. Rock, and the still-to-come 1991Va Escort.

As Ford grew flush with record profits by the end of 1987 it was sitting on a nest egg it also diversified into the savings and loan industry and began making other acquisitions. Industry observers said Petersen was among the most admired business leaders of the decade, winning praise from the press and widespread respect from the financial community. And, after attending the Bob Bopdurant School of High Performance Driving at Sears Point International Raceway in Sonoma, he even won the approval of auto racing fans. "There's no question he's going to be elected to the Automotive Hall of Fame. The decisions he made the ones where there's been enough time to judge have been brilliant," said Ronald Glantz, analyst with Montgomery Securities Inc.

in San Francisco. "Don Petersen has achieved a sterling, remarkable record as chairman," said Eugene Jennings, a Michigan State University business professor. "He showed that you could compete in the face of the Japanese with good design and good marketing." Petersen never failed to give all praise and credit for Ford's accomplishments to its work ers, hourly and salaried. "Petersen was willing to submerge his personality in the company," authors David Collier and Peter Horowitz wrote in "The Fords, An American Epic." Collier and Horowitz called Petersen "a healing figure" for Ford in the aftermath of Henry Ford II's painful battle with Lee Iacocca, whom Ford fired as Ford president in 1979. Petersen managed to negotiate nimbly through Ford's upper echelons without stepping on the political land mines that caused "so many casualties at the high levels of the company," David Halberstam wrote in his 1986 book "The Reckoning." Halberstam wrote that Pe i -'m i Jody Petersen sees trips, 'whole lives ahead of us' Poling: A 'bean counter' who keeps up with pros She added, "Also, Don would never have undertaken early retirement if he hadn't known the company would be in splendid hands." What will the Petersens do with their retirement years? They have a daughter and 5-year- i I K.YA 'A HOECHST CELANESE CORP.

of Somer-ville, Friday appointed Robert T. Moffett as vice-president, automotive, a newly created position that the company said signals an expanded commitment to bring its automotive materials technology to Detroit. Moffett, 47, will be based at Hoechst Celanese's Automotive Development Center in Auburn Hills. Mazda Motor u.s. carmaking plant plans to get about 90 percent of its sheet steel from local suppliers by 1991, the company said Friday.

Mazda spokesman Jim Gill said the plant now gets 30 to 35 percent from local sources. The plant also plans to boost domestic content of its products, the Mazda MX-6 and 626 and the Ford Probe, to 70 to 75 percent by the 1992 model year. It's now about 65 percent. Consumers Power Co. of Jackson said Friday it is redeeming all outstanding shares of its $4.52 preferred stock on Jan.

1, at $104,725 per share, plus accrued dividends of $1.13 per share. The utility will pay the principal amount and accrued dividends on the redeemed shares to Jan. 1, by check on or after Jan. 1. Consumers is the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy Corp.

and Michigan's largest utility. EARNINGS: Central Holding Mt. Clemens, quarter ended Sept. 30. Net loss, $275,000 (eight cents) vs.

net income, $578,000 (16 cents). PHM Bloomfield Hills, quarter ended Sept. 30. Net income, $9,515,000 (36 cents) vs. $4,094,000 (15 cents).

Revenues, $288,213,000 vs. $297,651,000. Nine months: net income, $40,647,000 ($1.53) vs. $11,122,000 (42 cents). Revenues, $841,714,000 vs.

$788,902,000. Spartan Mott.ra Charlotte, quarter ended Sept. 30. Net income, $252,629 (six cents) vs. $616,303 (14 cents).

Revenues, $8,109,749 vs. $9,176,357. Nine months: net income, $909,733 (20 cents) vs. $2,150,066 (47 cents). Revenues.

old granddaughter in the Detroit area and a son in Chicago; they'll spend more time with them. And the list of activities is long. "We have a home in the California desert in Rancho Mirage, and we want to Jody Petersen by Charlotte W. Craig Free Press Sufi Writer Jody Petersen had heard too many stories about executives who waited too long to retire waited until their health was gone and they couldn't enjoy the time. Her husband, Ford Chairman Don Petersen, knew the same stories.

So they started talking months ago maybe longer about breaking that pattern. Don Petersen announced his impending break with Ford Motor Co. Friday, setting March 1 as his date for early retirement at age 63. "And I've hardly been able to contain myself all day," said Jody Petersen late Friday afternoon. "We're going to make up for a lot of lost time." The time has been almost 41 years with the same company, putting in 14- or 15-hour days in the early years.

Lately, since becoming chairman, Don Petersen has cut back to about 12 hours a day at the office, said his wife. The Petersens have been married 41 years, since shortly before he joined the company. "The company has always come first; it was total immersion. And I grew up thinking that was the way the whole world was," said Jody Petersen. "Now, I feel a lot like I did when Don was graduated from Stanford, and there was a great big world out there and our whole lives ahead of us." Jody Petersen, also 63, said they are in excellent health.

"That's one of the reasons we wanted to do this now," she said. "We're both still full of p. and v.M executive vice president corporate staffs in 1979; and vice chairman in 1987. Some Ford insiders say he was Philip Caldwell's choice to succeed Caldwell as chairman, in 1985, but stayed back because the company's board and Henry Ford II insisted on an orderly transition. Poling lives with his wife, Marian, in Birmingham; they have three children: Pamela, Kathryn and Douglas.

He's a passionate golfer, so good that he plays on occasion with Jack Nick-laus and other top pros. Mike Rinaldi, former president of UAW Local 600 at the Ford Rouge complex, said, "You don't like what he's telling you at times, but he's straight. He'll give it to you like it is." Eugene Jennings, a Michigan State University business professor, said "Poling is a 'winning' type of guy, and it brushes off on people." Jennings predicted, however, that Pol-ing's tenure as chairman may be more difficult than that of Donald Petersen, whom Poling succeeds March 1. "Ford has to bite the bullet on some major restructuring of plants, product design and distribution," said Jennings. "These are things it postponed because it wanted to exploit a great opportunity that was created by the early popularity of the Taurus Sable.

In the next five or six years, Ford is going to have to pay for the loss of time and production efficiencies that it shelved in favor of short-term arnings." By John Lippert Free Press Labor Writer If sluggish auto sales mean that even Ford Motor Co. needs to start swinging budget axes again, the company has a seasoned veteran in Harold A. Poling, its next chairman. Poling, 64, made his real mark at Ford during a four-year stint beginning in 1980 as executive vice president of the company's North American Automotive Operations. By the time he left, he had slashed $3 billion out of Ford's fixed operating costs, and laid the groundwork for a profitable decade.

He's considered the architect, for example, of Ford's effort to keep manufacturing capacity and costs to a minimum, though the company's coffers have overflowed in recent years. Some detractors inside Ford dismiss him as a "hatchet man" who "red-penciled Ford back to profitability." But loyalists describe him as tough-talking "finance guy who's become a professional manager." In a 1988 Free Press interview, Poling said he doesn't mind being described as tough-minded or even as a "bean-counter." "Everyone isn't going to agree because somebody is going to get hurt," he said. "But think of the thousands of people who will get hurt if you don't do something." A Detroit native, Poling joined Ford in 1950 as a college trainee in the steel division. He was named chairman of Ford of Europe in 1977, Harold A. Poling PERSONAL Born Oct.

14, 1925, in Detroit. EDUCATION: Bachelor's in economics and business, Monmouth (III.) College; master's in accounting, Indiana University. CAREER PATH: Oct. 13, 1987 Became vice-chairman, Ford Motor Co. Feb.

1, 1985 Became president and chief operating officer. Oct. 29, 1984 Joined Office of the Chief Executive March 13, 1980 Became executive vice president-Ford North American Automotive Operations May 10, 1979 Elected to the Board of Directors April 1979 Became executive vice president-Corporate Staffs July 1977 Named chairman of the board of Ford of Europe. 1968 Appointed controller of product development group. Previously controller of Engine and Foundry Division, assistant controller transmission and chassis division and divisional controller.

1950 Joined Ford as college trainee in steel division. spend more time there," said Jody i Petersen. "We've had it five or six years, but haven't spent more than four or five weeks a year there. We also have a new condo in Palm Beach." They will keep their Bloom-field Hills home as base, she added.I i "We want to get a car and drive through England and Scotland and the south of France. We're going to take up golf, which he hasn't been able to play for years.

We want to be kids again," she continued. It's not that Jody Petersen won't look back. "When you get right to the moment, we'll leave with very mixed emotions. After all, Ford has been our home for 41 years." But then she adds, "On the morning of March 1 don't anybody call because we'll asleep!" $26,873,691.