Ford Vehicle

Mulally moved from Boeing to take up the reins as Ford’s president and CEO a little over a year ago, and the auto industry newcomer has won a handful of notable successes in recent weeks, including a four-year deal on a new labor contract with the United Auto Workers union, which should reduce Ford’s structural costs and exposure to expensive worker health care liabilities.

On Thursday, there was more good news: Ford posted a smaller-than-expected loss of $380 million for its third quarter, worse than its second-quarter profit of $750 million but a vast improvement over its $5.2 billion loss a year earlier.

Ford’s second upside earnings surprise in a row came in stark contrast to General Motors’ shocking $39 billion quarterly loss, reported one day before, and had Ford officials saying the quarterly performance shows the company is making headway in its painful restructuring, dubbed “The Way Forward,” which includes plant closures, job and cost cuts, and a new focus on smaller, more fuel-efficient cars and SUVs.

Now as the Los Angeles event kicks off the auto show season, all eyes are on Ford, looking for indications of how the automaker might perform in 2008. Ford is generally considered to be the weakest financially of the Big Three U.S. automakers, having lost more than $12 billion last year. To fund its turnaround, the company has mortgaged all its assets - including the iconic blue oval Ford logo - to the tune of $23 billion.