The Shape Of A New Machine

It was a balmy day in May, 1990, and Richard L. Landgraff was squirming in his seat. The Ford Motor Co. executive had come to Atlanta to listen in as Honda Accord owners raved to market researchers about their cars. In dismay, Landgraff watched as the Accord owners bragged about all the features Honda had loaded into its automobiles. The group was so taken by their cars, many drivers even swore they had air bags--which, in fact, they did not. "They were insistent," Landgraff remembers ruefully.

Less than a year after that daunting lesson, the 55-year-old Landgraff would take over one of the toughest and most coveted jobs in Detroit: overseeing the redesign of the next Ford Taurus, the most popular car in America. Since its 1986 launch, the Taurus has been the pacesetter for U.S. auto makers. The sleek family car helped bring Ford back from the financial brink--and by demonstrating that Detroit could again build stylish cars, it helped revive the entire U.S. industry.