Word: forde
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black," decreed an entrepreneur named Henry Ford in 1909. Nowadays shoppers browsing through a Ford showroom can choose models in everything from basic blue to racy red, but the founder's favorite color remains popular with the company's executives and shareholders. And with good reason: the profit-and- loss statements of Ford Motor Co. have lately come only in black...
Since 1986, when the firm's annual earnings topped those of General Motors for the first time in 62 years, Ford has kept its accelerator to the floor. In 1987 it posted an all-time industry high of $4.6 billion in profits, with sales of $71.6 billion. In 1988 Ford is already ahead of last year's blistering pace. First-quarter earnings rose by 8.9% from the same period in 1987, to $1.62 billion, topping the combined profits of GM ($1.1 billion) and Chrysler ($184 million). Though 75% of Ford's earnings come from the U.S., it is also doing...
Almost everything Ford produces these days seems to fly out of showrooms. The smoothly styled Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable midsize sedans and wagons (nearly 460,000 sold in the U.S. last year at prices starting at about $11,800) remain among the most popular cars on the road. The revamped Lincoln Continental ($26,600 and up) is in such demand that some customers must wait as long as five months for delivery. To appease impatient Continental buyers, Ford has started to send them $20 Cross pen-and-pencil sets along with an apologetic note; one customer returned the gift...
Under the innovative leadership of Chairman Donald Petersen, Ford is not simply coasting with its established models. Last month it introduced the Probe, a sporty two-door hatchback that may turn out to be nearly as successful as the Taurus. For a base price of $10,459, the Probe offers front- wheel drive, a zippy but economical four-cylinder engine and the sleek, aerodynamic look of a European or Japanese import. That should not be surprising, because Ford designed and developed the Probe in a joint project with Mazda, the Japanese company in which Ford owns a 25% interest. Mazda...
...Most of Ford's success has come at the expense of the much larger GM, which has been slow to respond to changing consumer tastes. In 1984 GM owned a 46% share of the U.S. passenger-car market, compared with Ford's 19%. At last count, GM had dropped to 37%, while Ford had risen to capture 22% of the $130 billion-a-year domestic market. Chrysler is chugging along with 12% of U.S. sales, in contrast...