• Forbes, Monday, February 13, 2012 10:30 AM

Ford CEO Alan Mulally hasn't hinted at a successor even though he has made some changes in recent days. Forbes writer Micheline Maynard writes that there are only a few inside candidates whom anyone in Detroit talks about: Mark Fields, Ford’s president of the Americas, Joe Hinrichs, the manufacturing expert who runs Asia-Pacific and Africa, and John Fleming, who has been CEO of Ford of Europe.

"Though these men have been key players in Ford’s turnaround, none have the high profile or ace resume that Mulally boasted when he was recruited from Boeing to become Ford’s CEO. That leaves open the question of whether the company might end up going outside again," she writes. "And it means more drama could be in store for a town where figuring out who’s up and who’s down among car executives is like analyzing a race card at Churchill Downs."

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