Bryce Hoffman opens with Ford's dire position just before Alan Mulally's arrival — a company hemorrhaging billions, fractured into competing regional fiefdoms, and headed toward the same fate as GM and Chrysler, both of which eventually required government bailouts.

The dysfunction Mulally inherited:

• Regional divisions operating almost as separate companies, duplicating effort
• A leadership culture where admitting problems was seen as weakness
• No unified global strategy despite operating as one company on paper

This opening sets up the scale of the turnaround that follows — Ford would become the only major Detroit automaker to avoid bankruptcy during the 2008 crisis.