Posted on 09/15/2006 5:16:26 AM PDT by Mikey_1962
Cuts include 14,000 white collar jobs, fourth-quarter dividend; North American operations likely not profitable before 2009; market share expected to be around 15 percent
DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. said today it will cut its operating costs by $5 billion and cut its salaried work force by one-third, or about 14,000 positions, as it speeds up its Way Forward restructuring plan.
Ford also said it will not pay a stock dividend for the fourth quarter, and will sell or close all former Visteon plants by the end of 2008 and close other plants.
The automaker now acknowledges that it won't return its North American automotive unit to profitability by the end of 2008 as previously planned. Because of further expected market share declines, Ford now says that full-year profitability for the unit is not expected before 2009.
That unit lost $1.6 billion before taxes in 2005. It lost another $1.3 billion before taxes and one-time charges through the first half of this year.
Market share for the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands will continue to fall, Ford said today. The combined market share of the three brands already has dropped by 1.1 percentage points through August, to 16.8 percent of the U.S. market.
Ford said today that U.S. market share of those brands will be in the low 16 percent range by the end of this year. Ford expects share to further fall to the 14 to 15 percent range in the future.
Ford will idle its Norfolk, Va., assembly plant in 2007, a year earlier than planned. That plant builds F-150 pickups.
A shift reduction is now planned for the Norfolk plant and the St. Paul, Minn., plant that builds the Ford Ranger pickup.
(Excerpt) Read more at autonews.com ...
I think the correct term is "TAKE OVER"
"I think the correct term is TAKE OVER"
The question is, "Who wants Ford."
BUMP
Someone is "protecting the dealerships" too. This is a very stupid move ~ sure, they might need all those dealers in the future, but you can contract for that service as needed. International Harvester even went so far as to absorb the debts of its dealership network ~ a vast sum of money at the time that turned out to be more than the company itself was worth.
They went out of business.
Ford is going to go out of business eventually doing this.
It will be interesting to see who buys which current Ford assets at bankruptcy ~ certainly won't be the dealers they are protecting today.
bump
The question is why do those on this board (not all but some) hate American Auto manufacturing and delight when people lose their jobs. Frankly it's sickening. I want Ford to succeed.
Some do. I'd take one.
Hopefully not. They make some good cars and trucks, but as with many large corporations, are finding their market shares down and their expenses up. That cannot continue for long without major changes in the way thinks operate. I do my part with a 04 Grand Marquis, and 95 Explorer.
I'm hoping for some foreign-owned company to give all the labor unions something to complain about.
Companies exist for the benefit of their stockholders NOT their employees. That is Capitalism. Whatever Ford does to protect their stockholders is all I care about.
Found On Road Dead.
What a nice guy you are.
Just try to defend domestic vehicle quality around here and you will hear plenty of anectodal evidence, but very little substance.
Ford has brought much of its pain upon itself. It has been too closely tied with its unions. Management has been derelict in its duty to keep the company innovations coming.
I said last year, when the media was writing GM's epithet that it would be Ford in the most trouble. It may require a takeover to straighten them out, especially when Daimler-Chrysler overtakes them in market share.
Uuuuhhhh....can you say "LABOR UNIONS" sucking out all the competitive blood out of the American auto industry? Hate American auto manufacturing? I think its more like wishing the american auto industry can get up to the 21st century and get rid of the prima donnas assembling all the cars.
I toured the Ford Rouge facility and was shocked to see the auto workers standing around with I-Pods in their ears and gabbing to their friends much of the time....and they're probably pulling down about $100,000 a year. They need to get a job like the rest of us in America they are an embarrassment to the rest of the working class.
Their stock is a Junk status right now.
Going down, the sooner the better
I am here on the Titanic right now. In half an hour the Captain will speak and say who gets a place on the lifeboats and who gets life jackets and who goes overboard.
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