Autoblog

Ford issued a press release this morning detailing its plans for the remainder of 2008, and considering the current price of gasoline, weak U.S. economy and rising cost of raw materials, the changes are exactly what you'd expect. Ford will now be producing 690,000 vehicles during the remainder of this year's second quarter, down 20,000 units from its previous estimate and 15% below its total for Q2 2007. Production levels in Q3 will fall to between 510-540,000 units in Q3 2008 (down 15-20% from Q3 2007) and between 590-630,000 units in Q4 2008 (down 2-8% from Q4 2007).

Though it will be producing fewer units overall, Ford will increase production of hot-selling cars and CUVs like the Focus, Edge and Escape, Mercury Milan and Mariner, and Lincoln MKZ and MKX. Production of trucks and SUVs, however, will drop sharply because potential customers are walking away from these relative gas-guzzlers in droves. Since those models typically earned big profits for Ford, the Blue Oval revised the timeline for its turnaround plan and now expects to break even overall in 2009, though it will probably take longer than that now for its North American operations to contribute any black ink to the ledger.

[Source: Ford]

Ford Motor Company had a first quarter that was much better than analysts expected. It recorded in its ledger a net income of $100 million, which compares favorably to the $282 million it lost during the same quarter last year. Revenue fell 8% to $39.4 billion, but that doesn't include the sale of Jaguar / Land Rover. Of course, market's outside the U.S. are what helped Ford the most, with South America, Ford Europe and the Asia Pacific Africa regions all contributing to the cause. But Ford's home market in North America didn't do as much damage to the bottom line as analysts thought it would. Here in the U.S., Ford reported a pre-tax loss of $45 million, which is a major improvement over the $613 million lost last year. Most of that improvement is due to cost-cutting measures that saved the automaker $1.2 billion and includes not only reducing the volume of cars produced, but also reducing the workforce. Ford has already offered buyouts to 54,000 UAW workers, and going forward plans to offer targeted buyouts to specific plants and workers building specific vehicles. Ford also shaved 20,000 vehicles off of the total number of vehicles it plans to build in Q2 2008, bringing the number down to 710,000 or 101,000 fewer cars than Q2 2007.

Ford is clearly prepared to shrink its way to profitability, and that's fine as long as the fewer vehicles it does build connect with consumers. Just like GM's strategy is to dig itself out of a fiscal hole on the popularity of new products, so must Ford wow us with some incredible cars. The Flex, 2010 Mustang, Fiesta, next-gen Focus, redesigned Taurus... you're on.

[Source: Reuters]

Right now the thing Ford needs more than anything else is competitive product. They're doing everything they can to get those products to market, but it takes time. They can't tell us what the product is because it would further-deteriorate their competitive position, so we just have to wait and see if they're worth buying. Other aspects of recovery that Ford can work on more immediately include very important items like improving quality, lowering warranty costs, finding ways to cut materials cost, and making commercials that get the attention of potential customers. Ford is no-doubt working on all that and more, but It's hard to do if you feel none of it will matter in the end.

Many of Ford's goals have not been met on the Way Forward and it's bringing moral down. January retail sales numbers were 10,000 vehicles off projections and February and March don't look much better. Material cost reductions are also below expectations. New products like the Edge and MXK are selling well, but production hasn't ramped to the point where they're really helping the retail standings for Ford either. The biggest problem, though, may be that employees don't believe in the plan. Only 38% of all employees polled felt Ford had the products to compete and 45% feel the Way Forward plan is working. It is tough for employees to see the light at the end of the tunnel when the next hope for profit is 2009. Ford headlines have been very tough lately and employees could really use some good news to help boost their spirits. The problem is, good news is still a year or two away.

[Source: Detroit News]