????在美國的汽車城底特律，搞財務的人——也就是數錢的人，是最不受待見的。雖然他們的工作也許很重要，不過他們就是對車柱上的特殊曲線、肩線上的鍍鉻和前衛的N輻鋁合金輪轂說“不”的人。

????在我對汽車業長達35年的報道生涯中，我記得在通用汽車公司（General Motors）里搞財務的人一向被視為公司成功發布新產品的最大阻礙。不過他們的權力大都來自圍繞著他們建立起來的官僚主義作風。

????在錢上最錙銖必較的人當屬福特前CEO雷德?波林。波林有他自己的一套原則，而且為了堅持原則不惜和任何人作對。他得罪過的工程師、設計師和產品策劃師不下幾十人。他與時任福特高管的鮑伯?盧茨的沖突尤為經典——至少在鮑伯?盧茨后來的復述中是這樣的。

????福特公司1989年解聘了時任董事長兼CEO的唐?彼得森，讓時年63歲的波林接掌帥印，帶領公司應對即將到來的經濟衰退。現在看來，福特家族的選擇很明智。

????波林于5月12日去世，享年86歲。福特公司上周二宣布了他的死訊。

????波林生前有三個原則：一、贏得汽車業務的辦法就是做成本最低的生產商；二、做成本最低的生產商的辦法就是設立積極的成本目標，然后實現它們；三、新車的后備廂總是要比在售的老款大。（作為一個業余高爾夫球手，波林對車子裝載高爾夫球袋的能力非常敏感。）

????如果公司沒有滿足某個財務目標，波林可能就會“火山爆發”。作家瑪麗?沃頓在《汽車》（Car）一書中講述了1996年福特Taurus轎車背后的研發故事。書中說，“一款車型的成本對他來說是最重要的事。”1986版的Taurus轎車采用了符合空氣動力學的“糖豆”型設計，對于福特來說是一個革命性的突破，雖然這款轎車取得了巨大的成功，但也并未滿足福特之前設定的目標。它的實際成本比計劃成本高出216美元/臺，而且投產日期也比計劃晚了三個月。

????Taurus轎車后來獲得了“年度轎車”之類的美譽，不過波林當時并不滿意。他對總工程師盧?沃拉爾迪說：“他無法信任他了，因為他超出了預算。”Taurus的成功可能使沃拉爾迪在福特成了神一樣的人物，不過在波林卻不以為然。幾年后，波林和沃拉爾迪都退休了，但波林還是耿耿于懷。他對波林說：“我本來非常看重盧?沃拉爾迪。不過他不像我想象的那樣關心成本。”

????The finance guys, the ones who count the money, are the least popular guys in Detroit. Essential though their job may be, they are the ones who say "no" to the special curve in the roof pillar, the extra bit of chrome on the shoulder line, or the fancy spokes on the aluminum wheels.

????In my 35 years covering the auto industry, the finance guys at General Motors (GM) were reputed to be the biggest obstacles to successful new product programs, but their power mostly stemmed from the bureaucracy that had been erected around them.

????The toughest bean counter in town, hands down, was Red Poling. Poling had his principles and he was willing to defend them against anyone. He took on engineers, designers, and product planners by the dozen, and his clashes with Bob Lutz, then a Ford (F) executive, were monumental -- at least in Lutz's dramatic retelling of them.

????So the Ford family knew what it was doing when it pushed Don Petersen out as chairman and CEO in 1989 and installed a 63-year-old Poling to keep the company afloat during the oncoming recession.

????Poling died last Saturday at the age of 86. Ford Motor reported his death on Tuesday.

????Poling had three principles: the way to win in the car business is to be the low-cost producer, the way to be the low-cost producer was to set aggressive cost targets and hit them, and the trunk of a new car always had to be bigger than the one on the outgoing model. (As a low-handicap golfer, Polling was sensitive to carrying capacity for golf bags).

????Missing a financial target could be the occasion for a volcanic explosion from Poling. In "Car," the story behind the development of the 1996 Taurus, author Mary Walton describes him as "a man to whom the cost of a car was paramount." The '86 Taurus, the hugely successful jelly bean shaped model that revolutionized Ford, did not meet its targets. It cost $216 more to make each one than planned and its production had started three months behind schedule.

????The Taurus would go on to win Car of the Year accolades, but Poling wasn't satisfied. He told the engineer in charge, Lew Veraldi, that "he couldn't trust him because he'd overrun his budget." The success of the Taurus would make Veraldi a deity at Ford, but not to Poling. Years later, after both men had retired, Poling was still angry. He told Walton, "I thought very highly of Lew Veraldi. He was not as concerned with cost as I felt he should be."