1. Taurus and Sable manufactured by Ford were huge successes. 2. Detroit suffered from a perception of poor quality and that’s why the Big Three were losing market share to imports from Japan and Europe. 3. Ford executives understood that fuel economy was the reason why consumers were choosing imports. 4. To make sure Taurus and Sable would succeed, Ford invested $3 billion, which was the usual amount of money needed to develop a new car. 5. Normally, the five-year process of creating a new automobile is sequential. 6. With the sequential approach, different units work in close cooperation and are in constant communication with each other. 7. The final responsibility for the vehicle was delegated to Team Taurus. 8. To determine the customers’ preferences, Ford launched its largest series of market studies ever. 9. Detroit carmakers always asked assembly-line workers for their advice. 10. The American automakers usually involved their suppliers in the design process. 11. The Japanese principles were successfully applied in the Taurus project.
Exercise 3. Make 2—4 sentences using the term «track record».
Example: Aeroflot has a good track record in terms of flight safety, but this fact is not well known to its customers.
Oleg Deripaska, head of RUSAL, has an impressive track record of arranging successful mergers and acquisitions that turned his company into the world’s biggest aluminum producer.
Exercise 4. In economic context, «domestic» means «национальный, внутренний». Make 2 sentences with each of the following expressions:
domestic market
domestic producer
domestic prices
Exercise 5*. Fill in the blanks using terms given below.
Getting Customers to Love You
In 1984, General Motors shrank the Cadillac two feet and sales declined, forcing the dismayed…….. to rethink the way it…… cars. Instead of interviewing car buyers only at the start of………….. met over three years with five groups, each composed of 500 owners of Cadillacs and other models, to discuss design ideas. General Motors literally placed these people behind the wheel of prototypes, letting them fiddle with switches and knobs on the instrument panel, door handles, and seat belts while…….. sat in back and took notes.
The result: The new De Ville and Fleetwood cruised into……. with subtle tail fins, nine extra inches, and fender skirts – all reminiscent of the opulent post-war automobiles. As a result…….. quickly increased. The troubles and the comeback taught the company a very tough lesson. GM says, «We learned to….. on the consumer.»
