Ford not to post a profit until 2009 at least

Ford Motor Co. will lay off 14,000 salaried workers, close more North American factories and says it still won't make money until 2009.
Friday's announcement comes just hours after Ford offered buyouts worth as much as $140,000 per worker to all its 75,000 North American hourly workers.
The company, which lost $1.44 billion in the first half of this year, will stop paying dividends and add two factories to its closure list. So far nine factories are set to be shuttered, a 26-percent capacity reduction that will leave the once-mighty carmaker with a 3.6-million vehicle capacity.
The white-collar layoffs, which will be complete in six months, mark a 10,000-person increase in the existing staff reduction plan. Further, its previously announced plan to cut as many as 30,000 hourly workers by 2012 will now take place by year-end 2008.
Despite the actions, Ford said it won't earn any money for the next two years.
It will not sell Ford Credit, which it called a "strategic asset" and while admitting that its Premier Automotive Group, which includes Aston Martin and Volvo, are losing money, it did not reveal divesture plans.
One analyst called Friday's announcement "radical surgery," and executive chairman Bill Ford simply termed it "painful."

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M53R - 9/15/2006 4:44:52 PM

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They will bankrupt by that time :p

JJ80 - 9/15/2006 5:17:47 PM

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Actually the company will be profitable before 09, just not their US operations. The profit comes from Ford Credit and other operations.

Surpsrisingly, even after employee buyouts, Ford will still have a better cash position than even Toyota.

woood - 9/15/2006 10:41:48 PM

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JJ80, How can Ford have better cash position than Toyota? Where did find this information? It just seems so impossible. According the report, Ford is set to buyout a total of 75,000 jobs for around $ 140,000 per employee. Its too much money. And Ford products are not really in demand right now or in the next three years while Toyotas are and still increasing sales as they go.

S4cabriofox - 9/17/2006 6:40:30 PM

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wooow-

Toyota is steadily declining. Look at the recalls, and the very slight sales increase of this year (3%, compared with 12% from last year). Toyota is becoming too big for their quality control- in thirty years, it's conceivable that they'll be where GM is now.

S4cabriofox - 9/17/2006 11:05:28 PM

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Will-

A company can get only so big. Toyota has reached the pinnacle of their size, give or take- and they will either collapse like GM has, or have many recalls while still regaining their composure in the reliability ideal.

S4cabriofox - 9/17/2006 11:18:08 PM

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I haven't seen as many Camrys as the last-generation. A sign that they're trying too hard to make their cars interesting. Something ironic: Lexus isn't trying hard enough. You've told me the LS was better-looking than the A8. I admire the LS for what it is- a relatively inexpensive refinement cruiser. But it's no A8.

There's a difference between a simple, elegant design and a bland design. The A8 employs the former, the new LS, the latter. I think most people would agree with that statement. The LS just doesn't seem to hold the presence and gem-like beauty that the A8 has on the road (I saw it at the auto show). There's something about it that, to me, makes it every bit as beautiful and desirable as an S-Class. And frankly, I'd rather have an A8L with $20K of options than a base S550 4Matic. But that's beside the point. This is a Toyota-Ford article.

I don't know how luxury companies are brought into everything!

S4cabriofox - 9/17/2006 11:19:20 PM

+1 Boost

"The LS just doesn't seem to hold the presence and gem-like beauty that the A8 has on the road (I saw it at the auto show). There's something about it that, to me, makes it every bit as beautiful and desirable as an S-Class."

These were a confusing couple sentences. The first one was about the LS460, and the second was about the A8L.