I know this is a GM site...
Quote:
Ford slashes 10,000 more jobs, 2 plants
By TOM KRISHER, Associated Press Writer
11 minutes ago
DETROIT - Ford Motor Co. is cutting more than 10,000 additional salaried jobs, offering buyouts to all of its 75,000 U.S. hourly workers and shutting down two more plants in a plan to end financial losses and remake itself into a smaller, more competitive car company.
The company said in a news release Friday that it would shutter a stamping plant in Maumee, Ohio, in 2008 and an engine plant in Essex, Ontario, in 2007. That is in addition to previous plans for 14 plant closures.
In addition, an assembly plant in Norfolk, Va., will close in 2007, a year earlier than previously announced and will see a shift reduction in January. Also, an assembly plant in St. Paul, Minn., which is scheduled to close in 2008, will have a shift reduction in 2007.
Ford said it would complete its cuts of about 30,000 hourly jobs by the end of the 2008, four years ahead of its previous target. Ford also said it already had cut 4,000 salaried positions in the first quarter of this year.
The new cuts would reduce Ford's total North American work force by 29 percent, from the current level of about 130,000 to about 92,000 by the end of 2008.
Ford's method of slashing its work force is similar to cuts made earlier this year by rival General Motors Corp. At GM, 34,410 hourly workers have accepted buyouts or early retirement offers this year. Figures on white-collar cuts were not available.
By 2008, Ford's North American factory capacity will be reduced by 26 percent compared to 2005 levels, the company said in the release.
It said the plan would cut about $5 billion in operating costs, mainly by offering early retirement and buyout packages to all hourly workers and to white-collar employees. Ford plans to expand buyout and early retirement offers to the company's U.S. hourly work force of more than 75,000 as part of the plan.
"The simple fact is that the business model that served us in North America for decades no longer works," Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas, said during a morning teleconference.
Todd Wiech, a 46-year-old Ford worker in St. Paul, said he's wrestling with his options, which include the buyout, going back to school or trying to transfer to the Dearborn, Mich., truck plant, where Ford plans to add a third shift to make F-150s.
He said it wouldn't be easy to walk away from 18 years with the company.
"Myself — people that were hired in 1988 — it hits us pretty hard because we've got a lot of time invested with Ford and we're getting a little older to go out looking," said Wiech, whose daughter will graduate from high school in two years.
Ford said it expects to achieve full-year profitability in its North American automotive operations no earlier than 2009. The company had previously pledged to make money in North America in 2008.
It also plans to suspend the quarterly dividend on its common and Class B stock in the fourth quarter of this year.
Ford shares fell 63 cents, or 7 percent to $8.47 in premarket trading on Friday. Its shares have traded in a 52-week range of $6.06 to $10.09.
Ford lost $1.4 billion during the first half of this year and is under pressure from Wall Street to make further cuts and roll out new cars and trucks more quickly.
In July, the company pledged to accelerate its "Way Forward" restructuring plan, which when introduced in January called for the up to 30,000 job cuts as well as closing 14 facilities by 2012. The new cuts bring the total number of plant closures to 16.
"These actions have painful consequences for communities and many of our loyal employees," Executive Chairman Bill Ford said in the restructuring release. "But rapid shifts in consumer demand that affect our product mix and continued high prices for commodities mean we must continue working quickly and decisively to fix our business."
The company indicated that it is ready to accept a smaller slice of the market, focusing on profitable sales instead of sheer volume. It said that, with investments in new products and quality improvements, it expects market share of about 14 to 15 percent going forward.
This year, the company is forecasting Ford, Lincoln and Mercury market share in the low-16 percent range. The country's second-largest automaker has seen its market share decline steadily in recent years from about 26 percent in the early 1990s.
"Turnarounds of this magnitude succeed when capacity and costs are aligned with a realistic expectation of demand," Chief Executive Alan Mulally said in a statement. Mulally, who was named to the post last week, led a turnaround at the commercial jetmaking division of Boeing Co.
The company also said it would roll out new or significantly upgraded cars and trucks in 70 percent of its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands, expanding in growing areas such as car-based crossovers. At the same time, Ford said it will try to maintain its lead in the truck segment by introducing a new F-150 that will go on sale in 2008.
Ford has acknowledged a need for drastic changes in its product lineup. Like other U.S. automakers, its bottom line is heavily dependent on high-margin trucks and large SUVs, but recently consumer preferences have shifted toward more fuel-efficient vehicles. Ford says the speed of that shift caught it by surprise.
___
Associated Press Writers Sarah Karush in Detroit and Martiga Lohn in St. Paul, Minn., contributed to this report.
Locally 680 jobs are on the chopping block due the the shutting of the Maumee stamping plant however those workers might be able to find a job at GM's local Powertrain transmission plant that should be completed by that time to make the GM 6 speed transmission.
What do you think Ford should do about restructuring the Ford Motor Company and it's affiliates?
Personally I think first and foremost sell off Land Rover. BMW had the right idea when they got rid of Land Rover. Keep Jaguar and Aston Martin but maybe kill off the Baby Jags here in the States since they compete against Lincolns. Drop the Crown Vic's, Grand Marquis and Town Cars, the only thing keeping those afloat are Police departments. Give Mercury a Mustang sibling, can anybody say Cougar
. Drop the Expedition or the Explorer one has to go for the others survival.
Sinking ... siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinking ....
spikej - maybe you should apply for the ceo position, those are some good ideas.
Quote:
What do you think Ford should do about restructuring the Ford Motor Company and it's affiliates?
Invest in cars! Bring Ford of Germany & Australia auto products here with diesel options. Refocus what Land Rover was. Cut the badge engineering, and make products unique for Ford, Mercury, Lincoln.
Hell, Ford recently decided to not offer a V8 in their top of the line Lincoln, when every other competitor has one. How will the consumer recognize that Lincoln is serious in competing with BMW, Cadillac, Lexus, MB, Infinity?
>>>For Sale? Clicky!<<<
-----The orginal Mr.Goodwrench on the JBO since 11/99-----
I think they need to make exciting cars, peoples standards have risen and another boring car will do no good. They expect us to be happy with another round of boring fwd cars and even a fwd suv. America was known for one thing big engines and RWD, go back to that. Keep the price as low as possible, start at the point that would benefit you most and add a gas saving mode that drops cylinders to all of the vehicles you can.
Ford
keep the Mustang but loose the v6 and up the displacement, 5.4 out of the GT would be nice
keep the F-series but fix all of the stupid fire hazards
keep the GT, a 6L v8 would be nice
an AWD turbo Focus would be awesome, Cosworth edition?, also add a v6 option for all models
update the Crown Victoria
loose the 500, it sucks
once the Edge comes out loose the Freestyle
Lincoln
NO FWD
update the stupid towncar, limo companies but them up.
keep the navigator, but that new front end is UGLY
update the LS and add the option for manual and sport-shift for all engines, add a 4.6 to the options list.
keep the Mark LT
loose the Zephyr or use that name for the LS
Mercury
NO FWD
Lose the Milan or Montego, pick one
Lose the Mariner hybrid, leave the hybrids to ford
Update the Grand Marquis for gods sake
Mazda
ehh, it's ok, leave it alone
Jaguar
Loose the lower models
Aston
Keep everything, it's perfect
Land Rover
loose the lower models, stay up-scale
Volvo
Loose the FWD drive-trains, you're supposed to be up-scale, remember? Don't be another Saab.
Lose some models, you only need 2 sedans, 2 wagons, an SUV and a hard-top convertible
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Simple-clean house-cars, people, plants..
Simply put, a lot of work needs to be done to keep Ford afloat...
You guys are going to see some sad times coming at Ford...
Dave Z wrote:Simple-clean house-cars, people, plants..
Simply put, a lot of work needs to be done to keep Ford afloat...
You guys are going to see some sad times coming at Ford...
Or some wicked deals, like how GM had for the past while. I'd love to see some really good mark downs, and 0% financing on a new stang, or f150.
Evil Cavalier wrote:Dave Z wrote:Simple-clean house-cars, people, plants..
Simply put, a lot of work needs to be done to keep Ford afloat...
You guys are going to see some sad times coming at Ford...
Or some wicked deals, like how GM had for the past while. I'd love to see some really good mark downs, and 0% financing on a new stang, or f150.
Ford's cutting F series production and is going to flood the market with Mustangs so getting one should be cheap soon. I think it's a bad idea, once you flood the market the resale value kind of takes a crap and then the people that don't want to take that hit to the wallet don't buy it in the first place.
Get rid of Mercury.
I know GM is guilty of this too, but every damn Mercury car can be found in both Ford and the Lincoln line-up.
Get rid of Land Rover, their quality has been horrible over the past couple of years.
Basically hold on to Mazda for dear life.
GM had to let go of their wasted brand Oldsmobile, so Ford should do the same.
i dont think olds was a waited brand....GMC on the other had should be gone instantly...they dont have a damn thing that isnt just a chevy with an open grill
Ford
keep the Mustang as is, it's wicked and sells alot. Add a stripper model, where the V8 is available without having to order the GT package. Like the LX model in Fox bodies.
keep the F-series, but make a new base model like how dodge has their rams. A special order truck,
made for comercial/work purposes. V6, with manual tranny. Reg cab, long box, no chrome, grey plastic bumpers, and grill,
black steel 15" wheels, am/fm radio with two speakers, vinyl floor and seat. The Dodge's version sells quite well in Canada to construction companies.
Keep the GT, but increase the motor displacement, and amount of boost to yield more power.
update the Crown Victoria. Create a car like a RWD Impalla. Reduce the outside demension, but increase interior room. Used the new mustangs V6, with optional V8.
Bring over the Ka. It would sell great, especially the sportka.
Update the Ranger, or bring over the UK version.
Lincoln
NO FWD
Needs a new Towncar model. It's way too outdated. Could be based off of a new crown vic.
update the LS and use the mustang V6 and V8 motors.
Mercury
Lose the Milan
Update the Grand Marquis off the new crown vic.
Create a Cougar based off the new mustang.
Bring over the UK focus, and rebadge it a mercury, that way merc can have an entry level car that's not the same as the US focus.
Mercury could also have a sports car based off the Miata. Instead of a convertable, they could make a hardtop version. Like how BMW did that with the Z3, they could do that to the Miata, and change the body panels so it doesn't look like a miata.
Mazda
Needs a new rotory engine. Turbo powered rotory motor in a RX-7. Just use the RX-8, and remove the back seats and rear doors. Change the front styling alittle, and bam... you have a wicked sports car.
Jaguar
Loose the X-type, and create a wagon version of the S-type. The XJ has to aggressive of lines for a wagon version, but the Stype is more clean and smooth. It could use a awd wagon.
Aston
Keep everything, it's perfect
Land Rover
loose the lower model, revamp the RangeRover models. They need to be created more luxuriously. For Land Rover, they need to create a new entry level Rover. Create something reminisent of the 70's models. A two door, four seater 4x4. Rugged, and capable, built to compete with a Jeep TJ. Only no convertable. Keep a hardtop.
Volvo
Should look into a CVT and hybrid models.
