• Strategy Bloomberg, Friday, July 15, 2011 10 AM

Ford boss Alan Mulally wants to do in Germany what he did in the U.S.: Use fuel economy and technology to win buyers. The automaker says its retail prices lagged VW by an average of 6.3% in the past eight months.

The Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker ranks fifth in sales, with 7.5% of the German market, according to J.D. Power & Associates. That's less than half the of Volkswagen's share. Ford is also behind Mercedes Benz, BMW, GM's Opel, and Audi in Germany.

To win hearts and minds Ford is promoting its ties to Germany and trying to position itself as a technology leader. This month, it outfitted 1,100 German sales people with iPads loaded with a special Ford sales application that demonstrates fuel-saving technology. It is doubling the size of its stand at the Frankfurt auto show in September, adding a test track and hands- on displays that will make it, in the words of global marketing chief Jim Farley, "an adult science museum."

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