GO TO GUY.

Thank God for Derrick Kuzak."

It's a popular refrain among the upper crust at Ford Motor Co. -- top guys such as Bill Ford, the company's chairman, and Mark Fields, president of the Americas.

New Ford CEO Alan Mulally made clear during a recent Free Press interview that he has become a fan, extolling Kuzak's "big-time leadership."

"I've really enjoyed getting to know him. He's kind of like doing the job like I did it at Boeing," Mulally said. "He understands. ... He understands. ... He understands."

So just who is this Derrick Kuzak?

Before anything, he's a metro Detroiter, born and raised in the city now known as Eastpointe.

Since last summer, he's also been head of product development at Ford. In his role, he's the head engineer, the steward of the company's product plans and in charge of the critical task of bringing more new vehicles to showrooms faster.

When it comes down to it, Kuzak's also the guy in charge of driving innovation, such as capless fuel filling points, which eventually will eliminate gas caps on Ford vehicles.

In essence, Kuzak might very well be the most crucial character behind the scenes in Ford's do-or-die turnaround. The Way Forward plan will cut 44,000 jobs and close 16 plants by 2012, but it also aims to replace or refresh 70% of the product lineup for Ford, Mercury and Lincoln by 2008.

"If we don't get things right there, it's very hard to make things right otherwise," Don Leclair, Ford's chief financial officer, said of the importance of product development.

Despite all his high-stakes responsibility, Kuzak hasn't made the big, public splash that Bob Lutz made when he became product czar over at rival General Motors Corp.

"I'm not very comfortable with drum rolls," Kuzak said in an interview with the Free Press. "Developing and bringing a vehicle to market is the height of collaboration. It is not done by one person. And it never really has the stamp of one person on it."

But starting Monday, Kuzak might begin taking more of the spotlight. Along with other top Ford executives, Kuzak will be hosting the company's Showroom of the Future events at Cobo Center, where tens of thousands of employees, retirees and guests will get a confidential preview of Ford vehicles through model year 2010.

Those who don't know Kuzak will meet an executive who is soft-spoken, modest and collected.

Despite being in the eye of Ford's latest storm -- the automaker has lost $7 billion this year, sales are down 7.4% through October and he's the third product chief in three years -- Kuzak somehow maintains the calm, professional manner of a butler.

During an hour-long interview at his office in Ford's product development center, Kuzak talked about his no-more-excuses vision for future Ford vehicles, his love of engineering and the two principles that guide his strategy: consumers and, well, fear.
"Are we thinking about our customer?" Kuzak asked. "The ability to look outside of the walls of Detroit, outside of the walls of Ford, and every day, every moment, consider who is going to buy these vehicles. ... How can we make it better for them?"

But Ford can't worry about consumers' needs in a vacuum, he said. It has to fear the competition.

"Are we paranoid enough about our competition?" he asked. "I've got a ... saying: Only the paranoid survive."

Kuzak's plan for the future is a pie chart divided in thirds: one part cars, one part crossovers and SUVs, and one part trucks.

Based on Ford's sales last year, that would translate into an 8% decline in pickups and minivans and a 7% gain in the grouping of crossovers and SUVs, with crossovers making up even more of the sales as vehicles like the Explorer continue declining in popularity.

Special emphasis will go on the namesake Ford brand, which Kuzak wants to strengthen worldwide, and he said all future Ford, Mercury and Lincoln vehicles will match or beat the competition in areas critical to consumers.

In his words, those vehicles will be "fully competitive," and Ford isn't going to give customers any more reasons to opt-out of Ford's brands in the future.

"It's very simple for me," he said. "As competitive as the marketplace is today, there are certain elements of a vehicle that customers ... look at very carefully. They surround fuel economy, the safety features on a vehicle and the feature content. And one step that you want to ensure is that there is never any reason, in the fundamentals of the vehicle, that the customer will not consider a Ford vehicle.

"And then on top of that you add the emotion, through design, the emotion, through exciting interiors; you have some unique features that the competition doesn't have."

Kuzak boasts that Ford has some game-changing innovation up its sleeve, and he's excited that many employees, retirees and customers will get to see it soon.

"I think people are going to be very, very pleasantly surprised when they see what's coming on Focus next year," he said.

The men and women who work most closely with Kuzak have little doubt he will succeed in getting Ford's product stable full of the cars and trucks that customers want, and soon.

They confess to loving him for speaking their automotive language, be it engineering, marketing or design. They call him the best-prepared person in any meeting. Many said they felt somewhat at ease at this turbulent time, knowing Kuzak is in charge.

Kuzak, for his part, seems to love the challenge of his job.

"When you're doing cars and trucks, the technology is immensely complex, but you're doing a product that customers love," he said.

"They have an emotional attachment to their car or their truck, so there's enormous gratification from that. And the challenge of having to do it in high volumes and at affordable prices makes it the most challenging engineering job there is."

At a time of great change and struggles in the Motor City, Kuzak said he couldn't be more motivated to succeed.

"My grandfathers worked in the automotive factories. One of my uncles was a lead negotiator for the union contract, so I've got a lot of family history," he said. "It is important almost from a national perspective for many of us, to ensure that we make this work. It does get that personal."

Contact SARAH A. WEBSTER at 313-222-5394 or swebster@freepress.com.

Copyright © 2006 Detroit Free Press Inc.