Word: forded
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...When Ford became chairman seven years ago and CEO two years later--the first family member to run the outfit in 19 years--plenty of critics said that any guy named Ford, especially a granola-crunching one, was a bad choice for the job. A lot of people still think so. "Any insider is the wrong person to fix a Ford or a GM," argues a hedge-fund executive who is shorting Ford stock. "Insiders have too much of a connection to the status quo and the legacy of the company to make the tough decisions that are needed." Executives...
...company's fortunes have fallen, Ford has wrestled with everyone from Wall Street analysts to his own board members, who have pushed him to move faster to slash costs and employees. "They said, 'Just cut it away,'" he says. "But I said, 'I don't want to do that. I mean, I've got to live with these people. And you can cut and cut away a company, but at the end, what are you left with?' I want to find a different...
...time coming, as Japanese and later Korean automakers scored annual gains in quality, profitability and market share. But U.S. automakers were lulled into complacency in the 1990s by the supersize profits of their SUVs (light trucks, technically), which just a decade ago earned profit margins as high as 25%. Ford was an innovator with its Explorer model and just kept making them bigger. Meanwhile, the Japanese started making good SUVs too, and the competition made the profit margins shrink. When the price of gas soared, SUV sales tanked, and the U.S. companies were caught without money spinners. Ford stopped making...
...Although Ford Motor's new plan will hack costs, Bill Ford knows the real question is whether his company can produce cars that have the quality, style and value that drivers want. The biggest challenge is "to restore a sense of confidence, both externally and internally, in the company," he says. Despite an emotional new ad campaign that stresses innovation, the turnaround is complicated. Brands like Toyota have better reputations; their cars resell for as much as $2,500 more than American cars, according to Ronald Tadross, auto analyst with Banc of America Securities. "Ford has a revenue problem...
Will the new designs be enough to stop the rot? Ford Motor's share of the U.S. auto and truck market has been steadily declining, from 24.1% in 2000 to 17.4% last year, while GM's shrank from 28.3% to 26.2%. To put that into perspective, Ford last year made 3.15 million vehicles, although it has the infrastructure to make 3.9 million, by Harbour Consulting's calculations. That kind of capacity utilization--79%--is hideously inefficient. The company's stock price has fallen 39% in a year--wiping out more than $10 billion in shareholder value...