[Shotimes] OT Ford's Future Plans for 500 and performance cars

[Ron Porter]

I guess my interpretation of the same article is not the same. There were
also articles in the local Detroit papers that were a bit more positive (the
data isn't that bad, they performed far better than a year ago, and
performed ahead of analysts expectations). Also, the S&P dropped bond
rating, as with GM, is largely due to the growing unfunded pension
liabilities that many companies are suffering due to the stock market.

There was NOTHING in the article about engineering cutbacks whatsoever. The
article focused on how their cost structure is still higher than GM or DC,
as they didn't buckle down enough over the last few years when big profits
masked the inefficiencies. This was the same problem that DC went through a
year or two ago when their crisis hit. Actually, the cost reduction strategy
appears to be quite focused and serious this time around.

Regardless of how well they do, the SHO will not return, and the Ford 500
was not ever presented with any performance aspirations.

Ron Porter



-----Original Message-----
From: shotimes-admin@autox.team.net
[mailto:shotimes-admin@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of Fred George
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2002 4:23 PM
To: shotimes@autox.team.net
Subject: [Shotimes] OT Ford's Future Plans for 500 and performance cars


Read it and weep.  In Thursday's Wall Street Journal, "At Ford, Revamp
Means Rebuilding Wrecked System" provides details of how the
$162-billion Ford Motor Company went astray, suffered cost and quality
control set-backs and ended up with a downgraded credit rating from
Standard & Poors.

Bottom Line?  Look for the firm to shave every last penny from
production costs, mainly produce bread-and-butter products in the next
decade and attempt to boost earnings per share. The implication is
clear. Cost control is king; inpired engineering is out. Don't look for
new high performance, specialty sedans, such as an SHO-inspired Ford 500
or Taurus in 2004/05 from the cash strapped company.
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