PERSONALITIES: A Dashing High-Speed U-Turn

In a country where businessmen dress discreetly, speak circumspectly and plod patiently up the executive ladder, Robert A. Lutz, the president of German Ford, cuts a rather exotic figure. He wears elegant London-made suits and colorful shirts, rides motorcycles, collects and personally restores old cars, and speaks provocatively enough to have rated a full-length interview in the May German edition of Playboy (sample quote: "There is nothing rational about the automobile industry. There is no other aspect of business that depends so much on psychology, prejudice and image"). Now the 44-year-old Lutz is moving into a new job: last...

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