THREE GREAT THINGS HAPPENED THIS WEEK IN THE US AUTO INDUSTRY!

Bill Ford steps down. GM increases powertrain warranties. DCX drops Dr. Z in favor of 0% financing. It's been a good week so far for the US auto industry, with all the major players (though DCX is hardly an American company, but we like to sort-of think so) making positive moves which show the confidence some of the top execs still have in their companies.

First, Bill Ford gives up the CEO job at his own company in favor of a guy who has sold airplanes for the past 17 years against just ONE competitor (AirBus). Bill Ford knew that no one could fire him. So he gave it up all on his own. VERY BRAVE, VERY COMMENDABLE. Knowing when to "get out" is something most high-power people have no idea how to do properly. Ford shows that while he may have the big ego which comes with big money, he's also smart and isn't living for titles and pensions. He wants to help save his company, though he's been stopped at almost every turn. His initial promises to make FoMoCo the "greenest" of all the car companies has fallen through to the point where most people don't even remember him saying it ... Now he admits that while he's been doing THREE jobs for the past several years, at least two of them could be given to someone who might know a bit about process, manufacturing and sales. Not an easy person to find. They've settled on Boeing's Allen Mulally. Mulally takes the CEO and "President" positions; Ford remains Chairman. (Photos: Above, Bill Ford, below, Alan Mulally).

THIS JUST IN: AT LEAST $10 MILLION FOR MULALLY! Detroit News reports: New Ford Motor Company CEO Alan Mulally will make sat least $10 million  in compensation. The high sticker comes as no surprise given the fact that Bill Ford has had such a hard time finding somebody to take over his job, including the likes of Carlos Ghosn and Dieter Zetsche. It also comes as no surprise since Mulally was Boeing's second-highest paid executive at a mere $9.9 million compensation package in 2005, and Ford had no choice but to offer him a better deal. Among his Boeing perks was a 104-percent pay increase for 2005 over 2004, $83,000 in personal use of the company jet, company cars and club memberships for business purposes. His base pay in 2005 was $825,000. THE COMPANY JET!??! Yep, we bet! Probably one of those Boeing "Executive Jets", re-done 767s...Wow, again!

Then, DaimlerChrysler (DCX) finally drops those horrible "Dr. Z" TV and print spots and goes back to the basics: 0% financing for 72 months (!), but only for buyers with pretty  perfect credit. Some analysts think DCX has not gone far enough, automatically keeping a lot of people who might want to buy DCX products from actually doing so. But wait a second: Since when were car and truck contracts 72 MONTHS LONG?!?! Didn't SIX YEAR payment books used to go only to motorhome buyers? In any event, the "Dr. Z" spots presented mixed messages (German-American high-quality with cheap prices?) and DCX salespeople will be happy to see people coming into the showroom excited about saving some money, without worrying about some guy with a German accent who seemingly scared children and was only missing a monocle and a leather raincoat to complete the picture. (Photo: Left, DCX's own Dr. Dieter Zetsche).

And, finally, The General rocks our world with extended powertrain warranties! That shows confidence! Remember when Hyundai was such a joke that the only models seen on the street were either wrecked or abandoned? What did Hyundai do? They came out with a 10-year, 100,000-mile warranty and the company was, literally, saved from destruction in the USA. GM is hoping for just a little of the same thing. General Motors is increasing the powertrain warranty on all its 2007 model vehicles sold in the United States and Canada to 5 years or 100,000 miles, the automaker said today. The powertrain warranty is transferable and has no deductible, GM said. But, we say: WOW!, anyway. (Photo: right, GM's Rick Wagoner).

With VP Dick Cheney slated to speak to the National Automobile Dealers Association's annual legislative conference in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 19, and "W" his-own-self scheduled to meet with the heads of the US car companies soon after that, it appears all three domestic makers are making much-needed positive and very public moves.

Let's just hope (and pray) that they are all not too late. (Photos: You know who).