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Amid bankruptcies and forecasts of Detroit doom, one of the Big Three is hanging tough. Ford tough. Once defined by the revolutionary Model T, Ford is motoring on without federal bailouts, Treasury-led restructurings or bankruptcy judges. Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. market share grew last month, and sales surpassed even mighty Toyota's. Ford's shares have outperformed those of Honda and Toyota over the past year. Shares of archrival General Motors Corp., now in bankruptcy, are nearly worthless. Shareholders and analysts see pluses and minuses in Ford's decision to steer clear of government interference.

If there is any good news in this week's bankruptcy of General Motors Corp, and of Chrysler's on April 30, it is this: the problems of carmakers say little about the health of the broader manufacturing sector. In fact, U.S.-based goods producers are in better shape than ever before, analysts say, though they have not escaped unscathed from the current global economic downturn. Indeed, a survey of the U.S. industrial landscape not only provides a reassuring portrait of the nation's manufacturers but says a lot about what is in store for the trimmed-down U.S. carmakers if their court-supervised restructurings work...

It might be a bad day for GM but it’s a much worse one for Toyota. Really. The days (decades, really) of weak domestic manufacturers shooting themselves in the foot with bad design, poor assembly, and non-existent customer satisfaction in passenger cars are coming to an end. Toyota didn’t have to outrun the bear, it just had to stay ahead of GM, Ford, and Chrysler. Years of producing huge profits in North America hit the wall for Toyota in 2009, and they’re likely not to return. Ever. The game has now changed—and it’s not good for Toyota. Thanks to US...

Top-20 selling vehicles in U.S. through May ... RANK VEHICLE 2009 2008 '08 RANK % Chng 1 Ford F-Series P/U 143,717 235,924 1 -39.1 2 Chevy Silverado-C/K P/U 125,183 197,030 2 -36.5 3 Toyota Camry 123,848 198,309 3 -37.5 4 Honda Accord 107,088 166,158 6 -35.6 5 Toyota Corolla 101,708 152,308 4 -33.2 6 Honda Civic 97,505 164,994 8 -40.9 7 Nissan Altima 80,078 133,465 9 -40.0 8 Dodge Ram P/U 80,038 112,795 5 -29.0 9 Ford Fusion 66,585 73,197 20 -9.0 10 Honda CR-V 65,197 89,017 11 -26.8 11 Chevrolet Malibu 64,363 74,925 26 -14.1 12 Chevrolet Impala 63,756...

Ford shareholders should be kicking and screaming mad. America's ``free-market system'' is working against them. The only major U.S. automaker to decline federal aid and loans during the country's economic meltdown, Ford saw its competitive standing take a serious blow Monday when chief rivals GM and Chrysler drove away from bankruptcy court in debt-free, taxpayer-fueled vehicles, or what some call socialism. As much as $100 billion in tax funds could be spent on propping up these two failed auto companies, with more than half that spent already. Govt. Motors has burned through $20 billion, with another $30 billion on deck...

So says the Ford Motor Company, which on 19 May revealed test results on a novel ethanol-assisted engine. Called a direct-injection ethanol engine, the unit runs primarily on petrol. When it needs to deliver maximum power -- to climb a hill or overtake, for example -- the engine management computer adds a little ethanol to the fuel injected into the combustion chambers. This arrangement allows the engine to operate at a much higher compression ratio -- a measure of the amount by which the fuel-air mixture is compressed before being ignited -- than normal. As a result, an average car...

Using a separate E85 direct injection boosting system combined with gasoline port fuel injection (PFI) makes the engine more efficient in its use of gasoline, and can be viewed as a more cost-effective alternative to a modern diesel, according to a Ford study presented by Robert Stein, currently of AVL, formerly of Ford, at the SAE 2009 World Congress.

Economy: Given how industries are being taken over, spending has gone wild and new regulations and taxes are being mulled, you'd think it was 1929. Well, it's not, and the sooner we realize it, the better off we'll be.The country is much stronger and our economy far sounder today, and we'll soon be coming out of a nasty recession. The stock market has been signaling as much since the second week of March. Sure, there's the old joke about stocks predicting 12 of the last nine recessions. But the fact remains that the market — with daily inputs from millions...

DETROIT — Two Michigan automotive parts suppliers, Visteon and Metaldyne, on Thursday filed for bankruptcy protection, becoming the latest to falter amid their industry’s worst slump in decades. Visteon is the largest supplier to the Ford Motor Company, which spun off the parts maker in 2000. Metaldyne’s biggest customer is Chrysler, which filed for Chapter 11 protection last month. The filings are just days ahead of an expected bankruptcy filing by General Motors and at a time when G.M. and Chrysler are idling many of their assembly plants to clear out large inventories of unsold vehicles. The shutdowns, along with...

Auto parts supplier Visteon has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The filing comes as the company struggles with reduced demand from automakers amid plans for extended plant shutdowns this summer.

DETROIT -- Visteon Corp., a former division of Ford Motor Co. and one of the country's largest auto suppliers, confirmed it filed for bankruptcy protection for its U.S. operations Thursday after continued production cutbacks by its auto maker customers eroded the company's financial stability. Visteon's bankruptcy makes it the latest casualty in the U.S. auto industry, which has been hit by the Chrysler LLC bankruptcy and awaits an imminent filing by General Motors Corp. Though expected for months, a Visteon filing could complicate matters for Ford, the one Detroit auto maker to so far avoid government aid. Visteon doesn't have...

US drivers who own a car made overseas are more likely to be satisfied with their purchase than domestic car owners, a poll showed on Tuesday. Seventy-seven percent of poll respondents who own a foreign car said they were happy with it versus 69 percent of American car owners.

It had taken weeks of hardball negotiations, but on Sunday afternoon, White House officials thought everything was falling into place. In less than 48 hours they would unveil a landmark deal with U.S. automakers to impose sharply higher fuel-efficiency standards on new cars and trucks. Then at 3 p.m., the telephone rang. A senior Ford executive said the company had run the numbers again and concluded it might not survive if it accepted the deal. If Ford pulled out, it would mean a major setback for two of President Obama's signature goals -- combating global warming and reducing the nation's...

<p>BROOK PARK, Ohio - Ford Motor Co. is holding a grand reopening for a suburban Cleveland engine plant that had been closed for two years.</p> <p>The factory in Brook Park is now producing a new line of fuel-efficient engines that will be standard on the Ford Taurus SHO and optional on the Lincoln MKS and MKT, and on Ford Flex cars.</p>

The Ford Motor Company says it will not match big dealer cuts made by General Motors and Chrysler, and expects to benefit from the elimination of nearly 2,000 competing showrooms. The company’s director of North American sales, James D. Farley, said in an interview Monday that Ford had been pushing steadily to consolidate its dealers, rather than trying to end contracts or let them expire. Ford has reduced its dealer network by 700 since 2005, leaving it with 3,700 nationwide. Mr. Farley declined to specify Ford’s targets for additional reductions, but said they would be small compared with the cuts...

After months of debate, Congress appears close to reaching a compromise “Cash for Clunkers” plan that would give consumers up to $4,500 if they turn in their old car and use the money to buy a new, more fuel-efficient replacement. Late Tuesday, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce released a fact sheet that outlines the plan, which includes elements of two competing bills in the House and another in the Senate. Under the plan, consumers can turn in cars or light-duty trucks that get less than 18 miles a gallon. If they buy cars that have “window sticker” mileage...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Ford Motor said Wednesday it will spend $550 million to convert a plant, which previously produced trucks and SUVs, into a "green" manufacturing complex building small fuel-efficient and electric cars. [snip] "We're changing from a company focused mainly on trucks and SUVs to a company with a balanced product lineup that includes even more high-quality, fuel-efficient small cars, hybrids and all-electric vehicles," said Mark Fields, Ford's president of The Americas, in a statement.

Friday, after the April vehicle sales figures rolled in, Associated Press reporters Kimberly S. Johnson and Dan Strumpf, in the opening sentence of a report carried at USA Today, showed that they finally noticed two things, one of which yours truly caught three months ago, and the other which first became clear last month. The former point is that the American people are continuing to shun bailed-out car companies General Motors and now-bankrupt Chrysler. The latter one is that Ford's gain has been most the two bailed-out companies' loss. Here is how the inconsistently-headlined ("Auto sales fall in April;...

With one turn of a computer chip-enabled key, parents will soon be able to control the top speeds and radio volume on their teen's 2010 Ford Focus. A new technology, called MyKey, is being marketed to parents as an extra safety measure to protect their children. The Focus -- available this summer -- is on a nationwide promotional tour and made a stop in Broomfield on Wednesday. The MyKey features -- activated by a key parents can give their teen drivers -- will come standard with the 2010 Ford Focus. The features include the option to set a maximum speed...

If you have access to robots and bucket seats, it is bound to happen sooner or later. Video on site

On the cold afternoon of February 5, 1976, an Army recruit told his drill instructor at Fort Dix that he felt tired and weak but not sick enough to see military medics or skip a big training hike. Within 24 hours, 19-year-old Pvt. David Lewis of Ashley Falls, Mass., was dead, killed by an influenza not seen since the plague of 1918-19, which took 500,000 American lives and 20 million worldwide. Two weeks after the recruit's death, health officials disclosed to America that something called "swine flu" had killed Lewis and hospitalized four of his fellow soldiers at the Army...

After months of doom and gloom in the auto industry, we're finally starting to see some good news. Today, Ford announced that the new Fiesta is flying out of European showrooms and the company has increased its market share across Europe. "It is very encouraging to see Fiesta doing so well and also our market share developing so positively, given the declining market we are continuing to face in Europe," said Ingvar Sviggum, vice-president of marketing, sales and service for Ford of Europe. "With 56% of our March sales generated by retail customers - up from 43% in March 2008...

NEW YORK – General Motors and Chrysler put on their best brave faces here at the New York International Auto Show, but Ford Motor came out guns blazing, determined to separate itself from the other two Detroit-based auto makers. Ford now has a more tightly honed message than I've ever seen in 20 years of covering the auto industry. The Ford people keep repeating over and over and over again that they get it – that the products matter. If Ford is ever going to break from the Detroit pack, if Ford ever hopes to get away from the kind...

Incentive boost sales in the short term but may result in sharper drop later NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- A government-sponsored plan to boost sales of new cars in Germany has helped to lift that market out of the doldrums in the past three months, spurring the U.S. and other countries to mull similar schemes even as industry experts worry such measures will backfire. The so-called "scrappage" incentive in place in Germany gives buyers 2,500 euros ($3,323) toward a new car when they trade in a model older than nine years. The measures, which are financed by the government, have proved...

Ford Motor and Opera Software have announced a collaboration to add Web browsing to the Internet-enabled in-dash computers that Ford is installing in some of its trucks and vans. The built-in Ford Work Solutions computer, which is being marketed to contractors, farmers, construction workers and business owners, is equipped with Microsoft Auto, a version of the Windows CE operating system.

Good ol' Capitalism. When your competitors have hobbled themselves by taking bailout money and letting the government run their businesses, just stay focused on the big picture: make a profit by selling cars that people want to buy. The government can wish for a market for green econoboxes, but they can't make people buy them. Not yet at least. If you sell the only product people want, you will make a killing.

Ford Motor Company has applied for $5 billion in taxpayer funds for retooling, and has access to an additional $9 billion line of credit from the government. Yet, the company was a financial sponsor of Al Sharpton’s national convention last week that featured a speech by Vice-President Joseph Biden.In a letter today to Steven Rattner, who directs President Obama's auto industry task force, I wrote, Ford’s financial support for Sharpton places into doubt the judgment of Ford executives. I can think of no expenditure further removed from the core mission of saving the company and the American auto industry than...

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (NYSE:F - News) has reduced its automotive debt by 38 percent, or $9.9 billion, part of a series of moves to bolster its finances amid a deep industry downturn, sending its shares up more than 11 percent. The debt reduction, which Ford estimates will trim its annual cash interest expense by more than $500 million, is the latest evidence that Ford is powering ahead of domestic rivals General Motors Corp (NYSE:GM - News) and Chrysler in restructuring to survive the lowest U.S. auto sales in three decades. Ford, the only U.S. automaker that has...

Ford Motor Co. is offering a new incentive plan, including 0% financing and a job-loss assurance program, to try to jump-start slumping vehicle sales and boost consumer confidence. The auto maker will offer 0% financing through its finance arm and will cover payments for up to 12 months on any new Ford, Lincoln or Mercury vehicle if customers lose their jobs. The offer will run through June 1. Rival Chrysler LLC began offering 0% financing, along with rebates, employee pricing and discounts up to $6,000 in January as it looked to clear out dealers' inventories and boost sales. So far,...

Imagine a Google executive demanding a tax on software, or General Mills asking for a tax on wheat. That's where we now are in the U.S. auto industry, with Ford CEO Alan Mulally believing he has little choice but to seek a tax on the very fuel that powers his products. Mr. Mulally was a guest recently at this newspaper's ECO:nomics conference in Santa Barbara, where he outlined his efforts to revamp the struggling car maker. He said one problem is that America didn't have an "integrated energy policy." On the one hand, the government "regulated" smaller cars by "mandating...

King of the Roadkill by: Alanna Hultz, March 16, 2009 In Joseph B. White’s article “How Detroit’s Automakers Went from Kings of the Road to Roadkill,” White explains five factors that contributed to the fall of Detroit’s big three, General Motors (GM), Chrysler and Ford. White is a senior editor in the Washington, D.C., bureau of The Wall Street Journal. White says “first, Detroit underestimated the competition, second, GM mismanaged its relationship with United Auto Workers, third, GM, Chrysler and Ford handled failure better than success, fourth GM, Chrysler, and Ford relied too heavily on a few, gas hungry truck...

Scottsbluff dealership missing three bosses, dozens of cars http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10583582 SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. — One by one, somebody loaded new Toyotas onto trucks Monday evening from the Legacy Auto Sales dealership in Scottsbluff and drove off into the night. Dozens of cars were taken. Now plenty of people, including Scottsbluff police, want to know what's going on. That includes Legacy employee Miranda Cervantes. She discovered Tuesday morning that the dealership's owner and two other officers had disappeared without a word to the staff. Also gone were more than 80 Ford and Toyota vehicles. Employees found the desks of owner Allen Patch, comptroller...

AN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) - Industry experts believe that Visteon Corporation may file for bankruptcy by the end of the day. The auto supplier has a $15 million dollar interest payment due, and analysts expect the company to default on the payment, triggering the filing. Visteon has been under increasing pressure from their suppliers to pay overdue bills and shorten the periods between payments. The speculation comes as Visteon's stock has been delisted by the New York Stock Exchange. Shares dropped to just 2 cents on Thursday, the last day it was traded on the NYSE. The company is...

DETROIT -- Unionized workers at Ford Motor Co. have approved contract changes that include freezing wages and cutting benefits in a move to aimed at helping the automaker remain competitive. The United Auto Workers said Monday a majority of hourly workers voted in favor of modifications to the 2007 contract with Ford, eliminating cost-of-living increases and cash bonuses. The UAW said 59 percent of production workers and 58 percent of skilled-trades workers voted for the concessions. "By working together with our UAW partners, we identified solutions that will help Ford reach competitive parity with foreign-owned auto manufacturers and that are...

After the fifth consecutive down day for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), commentators from unexpected corners of the political spectrum are starting to scratch their heads over the Obama's administration economic policy responses. Take, for example, former Rep. Harold Ford, Jr., D-Tenn., now a commentator for arguably the most politically left-of-center network, MSNBC. On the network's March 3 airing of "Hardball," Ford said it's time for the Obama administration to get its act together. He said the analogy President Barack Obama and his press secretary Robert Gibbs used - that following the stock market was akin to following a...

DETROIT – Major automakers' U.S. sales continued their deep slump in February, putting the industry on track for its worst sales month in more than 27 years as huge rebates and low-interest financing failed to spur fearful consumers to make a major purchase. General Motors' sales tumbled 53 percent from a year earlier, while Ford's U.S. sales fell 48 percent. Toyota's sales fell 40 percent, and the other major Japanese automakers were only slightly better. The slide casts further doubt on the financial viability of GM and Chrysler, which planned to report its sales later Tuesday. They need to sell...

These are interesting times in the American automotive industry. Foreign or domestic, Asian or European, pretty much every automaker that sells new vehicles in the United States has been affected by the economic crisis in recent months. From the out-of-sight gasoline prices to the virtual disappearance of automotive financing, no dealer has been immune. Yet, while General Motors (GM) and Chrysler LLC are receiving a lifeline of sorts in the form of loans from the American taxpayer, there is one domestic automaker who didn’t receive or seek a loan from the Federal Government – the Ford Motor Company (F). Interesting...

Capitol Hill Republicans threw the first legislative punch in the fight over union law on Wednesday, February 25. But Democrats could land a haymaker of their own later with a bill that is much more likely to obtain congressional approval. Members of the House and Senate GOP introduced a bill that would mandate secret-ballot elections to form a union. The measure is meant to counter a bill Democrats could debut any day that would make it easier for employees to organize. Called the Employee Free Choice Act, the Democratic bill would force companies to recognize unions when a majority of...

WASHINGTON - "Fore!" The federal government is preparing to spend millions to purchase a fleet of small electric vehicles that critics compare to golf carts. The $838 billion economic stimulus bill that passed the Senate yesterday contains $300 million for the government to purchase a fleet of "green" cars. But the money won't just go to buy fuel-efficient hybrids such as the Ford Escape or Chevy Volt. The cash also can be used to purchase "neighborhood electric vehicles." The NEVs, which resemble streamlined golf carts, scoot at up to 25 mph, operate on battery power and can be plugged into...

Background: Volvo Cars (owned by Ford Motor Company) claims their all new Volvo XC 60 to be the world's safest car. The consequence: The Toyota people have worked themselves into a rage and now take legal actions. (The following is a translation of a Swedish article. My English isn't perfect, but I hope what follows at least is comprehensible:) "Toyota disapproves of Volvo's claims of the new XC60 to be the world's safest car. Toyota now sues Volvo in the Swedish Market Court (Marknadsdomstolen). In their application to the court, Toyota argues that there indeed are cars around the Globe...

Ford could face strike action over plans to cut 850 jobs and freeze pay, the country's biggest union said on Thursday. The company, which makes engines and Transit vans in the UK, said that it had to cut up to 500 jobs from its Southampton Transit van factory by May and 350 staff jobs throughout the country. A three-year pay deal, offered in November, needed “re-evaluation”. John Fleming, chairman of Ford Europe, said: “As demand across the industry continues to fall, we are facing challenges, which require us to take decisive action to cut costs — and to do so...

The "Big Three" are under bankruptcy watch and begging for more bailout money. President Barack Obama thinks this is a good time to appease his environmental base by weighing Detroit down with a new round of environmental regulations. This is horrible timing and it will severely damage the ability of the "Big Three" to return to profitability. The first increase in CAFE will take place by the 2011 model year. Detroit is now preparing to launch the 2010 model year in July. That is when they change their factories over and begin production of the next years model. They will...

Ford Motor Company, the only Detroit automaker not currently digging in taxpayer pockets, posted a $14.6 Billion loss for 2008, its largest loss ever, and is buckling down for a tough 2009. Unlike its competitors GM and Chrysler, both of which are right now suckling at the teat of nanny government, Ford has chosen to try and remain independent while competing against their own tax dollars in the form of government bailout money given to their competitors.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co.'s (F.N) finance unit plans to cut a fifth of its workforce, or about 1,200 people, to save money, reports said on Tuesday. More details of the cutbacks, which were reported by Automotive News and Bloomberg News, are expected on Thursday when the automaker and its finance unit release fourth-quarter and full-year results, Automotive News reported. The first pink slips will go out in mid-February, according to the Automotive News, which said the cuts would include involuntary layoffs, some planned attrition and retirements.

Ford Motor Co has enough liquidity to fund its restructuring plan and despite the deep downturn in auto sales still sees no need to ask for government loans, Chief Executive Alan Mulally said on Saturday. "We don't want to borrow any more money. We have sufficient liquidity to fund our transformation plan, which means our business is in a relatively good shape," Mulally told reporters on the sidelines of the National Automobile Dealers Association convention.

Ford Motor Co.'s (F) lending arm has been in talks with the U.S. Treasury Department about its financing needs, a government official said Friday. The talks began shortly after Congress failed late last year to pass an auto- aid package that would have provided a line of credit to Ford. The official declined to say whether Ford's lending arm, Ford Motor Credit, is seeking aid. "We have been in discussions," the official said. "I don't want to characterize the state of play. You'd have to reach out to them to get that characterization." The official made the disclosure as the...

Ford CEO Alan Mulally says he still likes the tiny European Ka for the U.S. portfolio. His senior staff isn’t so sure. Global product chief Derrick Kuzak and chief marketing officer James Farley get suspiciously quiet, and you can almost see their eyes roll when the subject comes up. Kuzak even smirks over it. The Ka is a bit of a cause with Mulally. But he says he defers to Kuzak on such things in the end. However, let’s not forget, Mulally pretty much brought the Taurus back to life by his sheer will. Ford insiders say there is no...

GM rounds up several hundred employees to brandish placards at exhibition stand The cash-strapped "big three" US car makers rejected fears of their imminent demise as they rallied local support for ambitious plans to develop electric vehicles, smaller cars and hi-tech gadgets. On the opening day of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the leading US manufacturers - General Motors, Ford and Chrysler - unveiled new concepts for electric cars and slimmed-down, fuel-efficient vehicles. But a month after the US government agreed to provide a $17bn (£11bn) bail-out of the industry, uncertainty prevailed as crucial union talks were...

For decades, Vivian Milligan complained that the government ignored the Ramapough Mountain community when Ford Motor Co. dumped a sea of waste in their Upper Ringwood community.   Longtime environmental activist Vivian Milligan says her heart was "pounding" when former state DEP chief invited her to Washington D.C. for her senate confirmation hearing as head of the Environmental Protection Agency.  On Wednesday, Milligan, who rarely ventures out of the area, plans to make her first trip to Washington D.C. – at age 57 — as a guest of former DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson.  The U.S. Senate is expected to confirm...

Ford Fusion Question....