Posted on 11/22/2004 12:19:23 PM PST by frankenMonkey
Ford Motor Co. said Friday that its head of advanced product development Chris Theodore will retire December 1, to be succeeded in the job by Hua Thai-Tang who led the development of the 2005 Mustang.
Hau Thai-Tang, 38, consolidates Theodore's job with that of the Special Vehicle Team (SVT). Thai-Tang will report to Martens. John Coletti continues as director of the Special Vehicle Team and will report to Thai-Tang. Besides the new Mustang, Thai-Tang developed the special edition Bullitt Mustang off the previous vehicle.
It was a white Mustang fastback with racing decals, probably a 1968 or 1969, that captured the imagination of the man who would become the 2005 Ford Mustang's chief engineer. Hau Thai-Tang had never seen a Mustang before, even though it was the early 1970s and he was maybe six or seven years old. "It was big, powerful, accessible," Thai-Tang says. "In that context, it stands for everything that's great in America."
Thai-Tang saw that first Mustang when his grandfather, a prominent Vietnamese businessman, arranged a private tour of a U.S. military base for him. But he didn't go home from the tour dreaming of working on Mustangs. He didn't know then that his family would someday escape Saigon as it fell to the Communist north. "My aspiration was to own a car."
In Saigon, Vietnam, where Thai-Tang spent his early years, most cars on the road in the former French colony were French. Thai-Tang's knowledge of big, powerful American cars came from Life and Time magazines his mother brought home from her job with the Saigon branch of the Chase Manhattan Bank.
Thai-Tang's family came to the U.S. in 1975, eventually settling in Staten Island, New York. The move to the U.S. raised Thai-Tang's aspirations, and he went after a job in the auto industry. He earned his engineering degree from Carnegie Mellon University (for which he recruits graduates for Ford Motor Co.) and an MBA from the University of Michigan. Thai-Tang has worked for the automaker for more than 16 years, including a stint in 1993 on Nigel Mansell's CART team and a tour in Europe from 1995-1997 working on the Scorpio.
Totally uncalled for. Do you need to know why?
Did you hear about the brawl at the Piston's game? ; )
Points hurt!
Also, this guy must be smart...and I know Ford does a lot of recruiting from U of Michigan and they usually pick the very best.
On the other hand, I really don't care for McNamara and that other fellow you mentioned (Soros) makes me downright nervous.
No, but you can tell me anyway, since you don't like my sense of humor.
For the same reason that your father may or may not be a white racist serial murderer.
Lee Iacocca endorsed John Kerry.
I think that was the point to make it look like the classic.
I'd like a new Mustang too. But I'd have to keep my 02 Yellow Ranger, Edge, Extended Cab. For some reason, chicks including my wife, (freeper Laura Earl), dig it!
but he was
Well, Ford ought to let him take a crack at the rest of their line-up, except the GT. It would only improve the product.
Thank goodness it's not a PT Cruiser.
Then your comment is completely understood.
Get it?
Already posted here. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1286107/posts?page=47#47
I am only playing. It is a good looking car. They did a good job.
I dig the yellow Ranger, but the new Mustang looks pretty cool too! :)
HA!!
Well you're in for a world of hurt, then.
The new generation of [automobile] designer hasn't a creative bone in their body.
Creativity having been *bred* clean outa this crop.
Not a lot unlike the brainstems in Hollyweird who rarely do anything original [anymore], be looking for much of the same -- ol' same ol' -- outa Detroit.
"That Metrosexual chevy truck is especially ugly."
Yea-yea, but then again why would you like that (African-American designed, BTW) $45,000 monstrosity?
...you're not a very sensitive guy. :o)
but I am.
Well said.
Cut 'n paste the following url into your browser, then follow the trail of bread crumbs to the "Video Gallery". Once there, the selection on the far right should bring up one of the new ads, titled "Anthem". Well worth the download. :-)
http://www.midfloridamustangclub.com/
LOL !!!
FORD had a team tour S. Vietnam with high performance Mustangs. Owning a Mustang convertible was the ultimate status symbol in Saigon for a Vietnamese.
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