U.S. car companies go back to black

By David Bailey

DETROIT (Reuters) - Henry Ford, who created the automotive industry's first mass-market hit with the Model T a century ago, was a proponent of radical simplicity.

In fact, Ford became famous for saying his customers could have the $825 (414 pound) Model T in any colour -- so long as it was black.

In the century since the first Model T in 1908, Ford's vision of top-down efficiency has been swamped by thousands of feature and colour combinations on new cars, trucks and SUVs.

The result, executives say, has been higher production and inventory costs and headaches for customers and dealers in sorting through a complex matrix of choices.

Now, Ford Motor Co (F.N) and other embattled U.S. automakers are going back to black, embracing the spirit of Ford's notion in response to mounting losses and the risk of a deeper downturn in the United States, the world's largest market for new cars, in 2008.

Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally said he was amazed by the number of variations Ford offered when he arrived at the No. 2 U.S. automaker from Boeing Co in 2006.

"I was looking at the (Lincoln) Navigator console," Mulally said. "We have 128 different options you could choose on the console. That's just the console."

With so many variations, a customer inevitably will want a vehicle that is not in stock, leading to a frustrated customer and pressure on the dealer to offer a discount, Mulally said.