Regardless of the aviation business, the new Ford Motor management said it was pressing Edsel Ford II to work with the company's dealers, with whom he had developed close ties.
"They'd do themselves a great service if they could figure out a way to get him reinvolved," said Joseph Phillippi, an auto industry analyst who has gone game hunting with him.
Improving relations with dealers is considered a priority for Ford because of lingering fury over what many dealers saw as a company attempt to render them obsolete. Under Nasser, Ford Motor operated some of its own showrooms and sought to attract some customers directly through the Internet, bypassing the dealers. The company has since scrapped those efforts.
But anger among dealers only swelled in the aftermath of the Firestone tire recall, which forced them to devote hours to replacing tires on Ford Explorers and other vehicles.
"We've got to continue to work on the relationship," Edsel Ford II acknowledged.
Irma Elder, president of Troy Motors Inc of Troy, Michigan, which owns Ford, Jaguar and Aston Martin franchises, said she would welcome Edsel Ford II's involvement. "Edsel has so much integrity, and he is so down to earth," Elder said. "You don't expect that from a person who was brought up the way he has been."
Around Detroit, Edsel Ford II is largely known for his work as a civic booster and charity fund-raiser. Last summer, he was chairman of Detroit's weeklong 300th birthday celebration, which included a Stevie Wonder concert, a tall-ship parade on the Detroit River and the dedication of a monument to the Underground Railroad.
Last week, Ford and his wife, Cynthia, donated US$1 million to start a US$10 million drive to finance research aimed at finding new sources of islet cells, which help in the treatment of diabetes. Edsel Ford II's son Albert, 9, the youngest of his four boys, has battled the disease since he was 4. "It really hits home when you have to give your son as many injections as my wife and I do every day," Ford said.
He said he frankly was not sure how he would manage a schedule made fuller by his new aviation business and whatever new duties he may have at Ford. "I'll have to figure it out," he said. "I tell my kids, `I'm sorry I'm not coming home any earlier."'
But James Pike, a family friend who was Edsel Ford II's back-fence neighbor, said he thought Ford could help most by easing his cousin's public burden in learning the ropes as chief executive. "Henry Ford always said he wanted to see two Fords in every driveway," Pike said. "It's time to have two Fords again at Ford."
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