SEVEN WAYS FORWARD; Job One: Bring America some new Fords.(Ford Motor Co.)

Byline: Kevin A. Wilson

While setting out a vision for The Way Forward Jan. 23 (News, Jan. 30), Ford execs said the key to revamping the company's faltering North American car business is to build vehicles customers want. They admitted to developing some cars and trucks on the basis of what could be built most easily in existing factories or because of what competitors were offering. No more, they pledged.

Instead, Ford will seek out "white space" in the market where consumers' needs are not being met (and where there is little competition). That is where innovation comes in, creating new segments as Ford did with the pony car 40 years ago, or Chrysler with minivans 25 years ago, or as Toyota did recently with hybrids. Companies can't just run clinics and surveys and expect to discover customer desires, said chairman Bill Ford.

"My great-grandfather [company founder Henry Ford] once said that if he had asked his customers what they wanted before he built his first car, they would have said they wanted a faster horse," Ford explained.

Claiming the corporate resurgence has already begun, Bill Ford cited the recent success of the Ford Fusion/Mer- cury Milan/Lincoln Zephyr sedans, and pointed to the upcoming Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX crossovers as evidence the company didn't just start thinking about this in January.

For his part, president for the Americas Mark Fields said the future product plan would avoid "me too" vehicles that simply match the competition's offerings, but didn't lay out many specifics. He said the company anticipates big growth in the small-car segment, and that it has already engineered or started developing most of the new platforms it will need between now and 2012.

Putting all this together with what we know about what Ford has in the works and what it builds elsewhere in the world, we compiled this list of vehicles Dearborn must build. If Ford makes good on its pledge to innovate, however, it will generate at least one big surprise that puts this whole list in the shade. Making talk into reality is the hard part. To quote founder Henry Ford again, "You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do."