Ford Motor Co. top executives say new models are on way

By Tom Krisher, The Associated Press

DEARBORN, Mich. - A day after posting the worst quarterly loss in its history, Ford Motor Co.'s top product and manufacturing executives said the company plans to roll out new models and make its factories more efficient.

They also said that the survival of the troubled company - which lost US$8.67 billion last quarter, burned through nearly $11 billion of its cash in the last year and has mortgaged its factories to secure a huge credit line - isn't an issue.

"Survival isn't a question for us," said Derrick Kuzak, the company's global product development head.

Instead, Kuzak and Joe Hinrichs, Ford's global manufacturing chief, said they are focusing on the future as the company brings six new models to North America from Europe.

The models, which include the new Fiesta subcompact to be built in Mexico and several on the European Focus compact's frame, won't start arriving until 2010.

But the company has plans to keep going until then with more fuel efficient powertrains for its existing lineup and some new North American products such as an upcoming new Taurus large sedan in 2009, updated Fusion and Mercury Milan midsize cars in the fall, and new hybrid versions of the Fusion and Milan.

The new Fusion, with a new 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine, will get more than 34 miles per gallon on the highway, Kuzak said.

Ford on Thursday announced plans to retool two truck factories to make small cars, in addition to a Mexican truck plant that will be revamped to make the Fiesta.

Hinrichs said all the plants will be flexible enough to build multiple vehicles off the same underpinnings, including several small cars and crossover vehicles. The same vehicles will be built and sold worldwide.

"Going forward we'll be making cars, crossovers, small utilities in the same plant off the same platform," he said. "We can again adjust the volume wherever the demand goes if one's hotter than the other one."

Once they can make more models, the plants will be more fully utilized, Kuzak said.

Ford has been running some truck plants on only one shift per day, or temporarily closing them as sales of trucks and sport utility vehicles have dropped. Industry analysts say such low plant use is not profitable for an automaker.

The company has no immediate plans to close any more plants beyond those previously announced, since it already has shuttered seven assembly factories in the past five years, Hinrichs said.

He said the company is expecting some recovery in pickup truck sales, so it has the right factory capacity for pickups, although he said a lot of uncertainty remains in the marketplace.

"You would never plan for a one-shift plant and you certainly don't intend to have that be part of your manufacturing plan for the long term," he said.

Ford is trying to plan so its factory capacity matches demand for its products, he said, although it's difficult to predict four or five years into the future.

"The best scenario for us is, of course, that we have the volume to support the footprint that we have today," he said. "If that's not the case then we will adjust the capacity to meet the demand."

U.S. sales overall were down 10 per cent in the first half of the year, with Ford's sales down 14 per cent.