Autoblog

Ford Chairman Bill Ford hasn't been compensated for working at his great grandfather's company since May 2005, and he doesn't intend to cash in until the Blue Oval makes a sustained profit. Ford's board of directors decided that nearly three years was too long to work pro bono and tried to pay the Ford family scion, but the chairman again refused to reneg on his pay-free pledge. Mr. Ford has, however, agreed to receive payment retroactive to 2008 once the Dearborn, MI automaker achieves a full year of profitability.

It's impressive that Blue Oval Bill has foregone between $25 million and $33 million in salary over the past few years, but Henry Ford's sweat and guile made him wealthy beyond his wildest dreams before he was even born. Those of us living in Michigan would be far more impressed if Bill pledged to give up the Detroit Lions if the automaker misses its target to regain profitability in 2009.

[Source: Automotive News, subs. req'd]

Henry Ford's historical standing as the father of mass production has come under fire by a new paper published by Dr. Paul Nieuwenhuis and Dr. Pete Wells of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at the Cardiff Business School. The paper posits that Philadelphian Edward G. Budd (shown at right) first implemented the use of the pressed steel car body and mass production. The doctors don't dispute the fact that Ford was responsible for developing mass production of certain mechanical componenets and sub assemblies, but at the time Blue Oval cars were built around a wooden framework that significantly slowed the assembly process. Supposedly Budd was the first to hold a patent in 1914 for a steel pressed body that required no wood, thus making assembly faster and cars more safe, durable and, of all things, easier to paint. It appears the intent of the paper is to shine some light on an early innovator in the automotive industry that historians, for one reason or another, have failed to acknowledge for his contributions.

[Source: Autocar.uk]

Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford may have been associated with anti-semitism, but Ford exec Mark Fields told a congregation of Jewish business leaders that he encountered no discrimination as he rose through the ranks at the company. In fact Fields said in answer to a question from a member of the audience that he was amazed at everything Ford does to promote diversity among the ranks of its employees, from a strong interfaith support network to an environment that supports inclusions of all types of people.

Fields was the guest of honor at a luncheon by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.

[Source: The Detroit News]

Ford Motor Company’s Chairman and CEO Bill Ford is ruling out bankruptcy for the Blue Oval. The Henry Ford scion believes that the company’s ‘strong liquidity’ ($31 billion in the coffers), downsizing efforts and profitable overseas operations will buoy the No. 2 automaker’s fortunes.

Ford has turned in three straight years of profits globally (including $2 billion in 2005), but that’s a 42-percent decline over 2004, and the Blue Oval lost $1.6B in North America, with market share down to 18-percent (it was 26-percent just ten years ago).

Ford did acknowledge that American auto industry is facing unprecedented challenges: “We’ve never had these kinds of wind buffeting us.”

The company’s NYSE shares fell 11 cents on Wednesday to close at $7.57.

[Sources: Associated Press via Newsday; Stern.de]

 

With apologies for the late notice, last month, U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton designated the Ford Motor Co. Piquette Plant, birthplace of the Model T car, as a National Historic Landmark. Said Norton in a statement: "National treasures are exceptional places that shed light on our history and help explain our past."

Less than 2,500 sites have received the National Historic Landmark designation. The Model T Automotive Heritage Complex, aka ‘T-Plex’, was pleased with Secretary Norton’s announcement.

"That area is the cradle of the automotive industry," said Jerald Mitchell, founder and CEO of T-Plex. "It's already in a city historic district, a state historic site, and on the National Register of Historic Places. The landmark status is the most exclusive."

We at Autoblog can’t help but agree and offer our congratulations.

[Source: Detroit News]