Ford statement today Heads-up. As expected, Ford will be making a statement today (Friday, September 15) on the acceleration of the North American Way Forward plan. Mulally (CEO), Fields (NA ops) and Leclair (CFO) will be making presentations from 9:00am-9:45am (EDT). Q&A follows. There's a press release available ahead of the event at at 7:00am (EDT). (Webcast access info.) Ahead of the gig the UAW has announced that a deal has been done on buyout offers to 75,000 hourly paids. Not too surprising that Ford has gone down that road after GM's success with a similar package. The pressure on Ford's management to make cost cuts deeper and faster is now immense. Credible reports are circulating (someone has been leaking...) that there will be a big downward revision on the FMC financial outlook for this year (projected loss of US$9bn - restructuring costs weighing in). Q&A could be lively.
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Special: Attn Ford Employees ; Think hard before you accept a buyout Special: Attn Ford Employees ; Think hard before you accept a buyout
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Ford goings on Things seem to be moving rapidly at Ford Motor Company these days. One minute Jag is tipped to be off, packaged with LR, and the next minute Aston Martin is offered up on a plate and suddenly Volvo looks more likely to be discarded. The media speculation is, frankly, all over the place. Is Ford rebalancing the business, looking for added focus, or looking for cash? Behind the scenes, a man from Goldmans is checking the balance sheet, advising on silverware that can go, and Mark Fields is trying to get a handle on Ford's North American problems while under constant pressure to speed restructuring up (not easy!). And now Bill Ford - the man who boldly proclaimed he would get a grip as Chairman and CEO when Jacques Nasser was booted out - has apparently recognised that someone else would be better to take the CEO reins. He dropped about as heavy a hint that someone might come in to do his job as I've ever heard in that interview earlier this week. Fair play Bill. It reminds me of the occasion a few years ago when England football coach Kevin Keegan resigned and told the assembled media circus that he simply wasn't up to the job. This isn't quite in that league, but it's similar and, in a way, it takes guts to back off the way Bill Ford has. More arrogant people often cause greater damage in the long run. It could yet be an inspired move if Mulally can transfer his relevant experience to the problems afflicting Ford. Perhaps Bill Ford will be able to play a properly supportive role as 'executive chairman'. Just to get out of the hot seat may be good for him. I wonder what a certain Carlos Ghosn makes of it all?
Ford reflections It's been yet another tough day for Ford, but we knew what might be coming. Is it enough? Time will tell. But we have been here before with Ford and Ford has come through before. In fact, some sixty years ago Ford turned to a man from the aviation industry to sort a mess out. And he did. A history lesson from Karl Ludvigsen is to be found here and Ford people, especially, might be in need of some refuge from the constant barrage of Way Forward news and rent-a-pundit saturation coverage going on currently. There's no shortage of investment bank and stockbroker analysts sticking the boot into Ford, naturally. They are not keen on carmakers with red ink and sagging stock, but some of them (not all of them by any means, there are some who I have great respect for) are so predictable. Their underlying message seems to be simple: just give it up and let the Japanese/Chinese get on with it. What are people actively engaged in that unfashionable area of economic activity in the West that involves actually making things and trying to turn an under-pressure manufacturing firm around supposed to make of comments like this: "Ford has 87,000 hourly workers. If 86,000 were to leave, the market would be ecstatic," said Bradley Rubin, an analyst with BNP Paribas in New York, who added that white-collar reductions are also high on his wish list. "This is what people are hoping to see." Was that Bud Fox talking? (For those with memories like mine, it's a film reference - 'Wall Street'.) I hope he's a young and eager pup in real life, just like Charlie Sheen, so that we can cut some slack. Very good article on this subject in the Detroit News recently (below link). It's enough to make you want to see Ford go private again.
