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Long winter means most automakers won't curb summer shutdown

A lot more happened during this latest brutal winter than days of snow and Netflix binges. Automotive sales took a battering. After all, going out car shopping when it's eleventy-billion degrees below zero isn't a good time.
Because of this Old Man Winter-induced sales slump, inventories are abnormally high as we head into the summer car buying season. That's led some analysts to predict that automakers will be more inclined to idle factories this summer, in a bid to trim some of the built-up inventory. Traditionally, American manufacturers offer up a two-week break in the middle of summer, although the burgeoning sales of the past few years have seen this practice become less popular.
"We're likely not going to see an acceleration this year," Jeff Schuster, a senior vice president at LMC Automotive, told The Detroit News. "We'll see production increases in 'pockets' but I don't know if it will be as widespread as in recent years."

Jay Leno and Lee Iacocca reflect on 50 years of Ford Mustang

Lee Iacocca oversaw the birth of the Ford Mustang back in the 1960s, rocketing the new pony car nameplate into million-unit sales territory in its initial go-round and cementing its place in the history books. Thus, we were immediately drawn to this latest episode of Jay Leno's Garage, in which the funnyman hosts Iacocca for a look at the origins of Ford's most iconic sports car. The legendary auto exec is looking notably more frail than when we last saw him, but if we're being asked around as a video guest when we're 89 years old, we'll consider that evidence of a life well lived.
Serial No. 0001 is on hand for the occasion for Jay's romp through history, as is the historic Mustang 1 showcar from 1962. Of course, the all-new 2015 Ford Mustang GT (in prototype form) makes an appearance at the end of the episode with chief engineer Dave Pericak, as well. Get some, below.

Ford's Mulally now said to be in lead for Microsoft CEO job

There have been rumors that Ford CEO Alan Mulally could assume the top job over at Microsoft, whose CEO, Steve Ballmer, will retire within the year. Mulally hasn't come out and said that he's considering moving to Microsoft after (or before) his contract with Ford through 2014 ends, but sources in the know say he's the front-runner to become the tech giant's CEO and has opened up to the idea more in recent weeks, AllThingsD reports.
Mulally is no stranger to Washington, where Microsoft is located, having worked in the state for Seattle-based Boeing Commercial Airplanes as CEO years ago. He also recently was an adviser to Ballmer in an effort to realign the company's management structure to help it become more competitive in a fast-changing computer hardware and software market. And when Ford developed its Sync digital interface, it tapped Microsoft to provide the operating system, Microsoft Auto. Perhaps the least crucial connection - but nonetheless an important one - is that Mulally still owns a house in the Seattle area, and it's been said he wants to return there, according to AllThingsD.
A main challenge Microsoft's next CEO will face is how to manage the company's numerous, fractured operations and, eventually, streamline them. But even on this front, Mulally has experience; after all, it was he who ushered in an era of global Ford vehicles, after the automaker had become complacent developing and selling vehicles by region leading up to the economic recession of 2008-2009.