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]