DETROIT—Quality is once again Job One at Ford Motor Co. Taking a page from the automaker’s ad slogan of the 1980s and ’90s, Ford’s new chief executive, Jim Farley, is aiming to rein in rising warranty repair costs that are a key reason why the Dearborn, Michigan, automaker’s financial performance in North America has lagged that of its arch rival, General Motors Co. As part of its new effort to cut warranty costs, Ford has told suppliers it will charge them upfront for half the cost of a warranty problem. Suppliers might get some of the money back if they resolve problems more quickly. “What we are striving for is to fix the issues as fast as possible so that those adjustments are as small as possible,” Kumar Galhotra, president of the automaker’s Americas and International Markets group, told Reuters. “They’re more incentivized to work with us.” Ford North America’s …
Ford’s New CEO Tackles Warranty Costs in Bid to Boost Profit
