Man I hope Ford can pull out of this, I think this is still happening from all the issues Jacques Nasser got them into. Believe it or not I would love to go back into a new Ford someday.

IB4SBFMS


Ford posts worst loss in its history - Yahoo! News


DEARBORN, Mich. - Ford Motor Co. lost $5.8 billion in the fourth quarter amid slumping sales and huge restructuring costs, pushing the automaker's deficit for the year to $12.7 billion, the largest in its 103-year history.

The annual loss reported Thursday surpassed its previous record for a year of $7.39 billion set in 1992. The 2006 loss amounted to of $6.79 per share versus a profit of $1.44 billion, or 77 cents a share, in 2005.

It was far from the largest quarterly or annual corporate loss on record _ the company now known as Time Warner Inc. reported a $97.2 billion loss in 2002, largely due to new accounting rules about how to value assets. Ford could not rely on accounting rules, however, for its staggering total, which represented a loss of $4,380 on each car or truck they sold in 2006.

Ford's loss also didn't surpass the worst such annual total in the auto industry. General Motors Corp. lost more than $20 billion in 1992.

Dearborn-based Ford expects more losses for this year. It expects to burn up $10 billion in cash on automotive operations through 2009 and spend another $7 billion to invest in new products.

The fourth-quarter loss was the worst final-quarter loss in Ford's history and its second-worst quarterly performance. Ford lost $6.7 billion in the first quarter of 1992, due mainly to accounting rule changes on health care liabilities.

"We began aggressive actions in 2006 to restructure our automotive business so we can operate profitably at lower volumes with a product mix that better reflects consumer demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles," Alan Mulally, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "We fully recognize our business reality and are dealing with it. We have a plan and are on track to deliver."

Excluding special items, Ford lost $1.50 per share in all of 2006, worse than Wall Street predicted. Fourteen analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a loss of $1.35 per share for the year, excluding special items.

Its shares fell 15 cents to $8.05 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. They have traded in a 52-week range of $6.06 to $9.48.

Ford, faced with increasing competition from overseas rivals such as Toyota Motor Corp., is banking on a restructuring plan to pull it through this rough stretch. Mulally, hired from aerospace giant Boeing Co., is leading the drastic efforts to turn around the company.

Ford mortgaged its assets to borrow up to $23.4 billion to pay for the restructuring and to cover losses expected until 2009. About 38,000 hourly workers have signed up for buyout or early retirement offers from the company, and Ford plans to cut its white-collar work force by 14,000 with buyouts and early retirements.

Ford, which relied on truck and sport utility vehicle sales for much of its profits, was hurt last year as $3 per gallon gasoline sent consumers fleeing to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. Ford has seen its market share deteriorate in recent years. At the same time, Toyota has seen its U.S. sales rise, beating Ford out for the No. 2 sales spot in July and November.

The company has rolled out or will introduce several new or updated products during 2007, including the Edge crossover, new F-series Super Duty pickups, a redesigned Focus small car and an updated Five Hundred larger sedan.

But many analysts are skeptical that the products are strong enough to turn the company around.

Mulally said earlier this month that Ford's restructuring plan remained "absolutely the right thing to do."

Ford said that special items associated with restructuring costs totaled $9.9 billion for the year as the company continues efforts to shrink itself to match reduced demand for its cars and trucks.

Sales for the fourth-quarter fell to $40.3 billion from $46.3 billion a year ago, while annual sales dropped to $160.1 billion from $176.9 billion in 2005.

 

Time to sell their stock short!

 

it's very unfortunate, but i can see first hand why it is happening.

Nobody wants to pay anything for our cars, and there are too many people who perfer (scott) foreign cars over domestic's.

Ford has the best truck, best mid size fusion w/ AWD, and a crossover edge that will turn the market upside down.

there are just too many anti-american car buyers out there.

 

I dunno why, either. In my opinion the quality of these jap cars is going DOWN. Especially Toyota. Meanwhile, domestic car quality is on a sharp climb. If I bought new it would be domestic. Or a Nissan. Nissan's are awesome

 

Far from anti-American most of the Ford line up can not hold a candle to the competitors plain and simple. That is why they lost die hards like me in the first place. Even the trucks (while good) are loosing ground to the imports.

You mention three cars from a line up of 30+ at least ? That does not tell you something ?

I really think it is going to come down to Ford selling a few sports cars and trucks. Everything in between is sub par at this point as compared to the competition.

Like I said before I was loyal for a very long time and tried to keep it in the family but I am not going to have loyalty make me buy a sub par car in almost every aspect. Even the Jags (new and used) I drove were complete piles of shit.

 

*Cough* why I purchased a Infiniti *Cough*

Ford does not produce a car in any of their line-ups short of Aston Martin that can hold my M45's jock in all around quality. Not in ride, safety, features, reliability, and damn sure not performance in any aspect. Hell my M is almost as fast as the new Mustangs. That is a problem to me.

 

I think Ford is going to have a struggle to get back customer loyalty...people's perception is that ford stands for found on road dead unfortunately....we all know that isn't true......quality has been an issue since the early 70's and the gas crisis when the imports changed things....my opinion is that for us gearheads especially make the fords easier to work on and also improve quality....I am loyal to ford and most of my friends bust on me for it but the fact remains that the company has to change things around and change the brand image....ford has become a truck company and unfortunately neglected its car line over the years...it's going to be a struggle for awhile but again if you put your mind to something you can change things around

 

Dear god imports are simple to do most kinda of work on. I mean a pleasure...One socket and you can tear apart most of the engine bay - its amazing. But yeah, Jags are complete POSs, hwoever Ford actually improved on their quality once they bought 'em.

And Scott, I don't see Ford losing ground to anyone on their trucks. Their trucks are the best on the road. There is no debating that.

 

Like Scott said ford charges too much for stripped down cars. Every year they decontent the cars more and more and then keep the old price. If they are gonna cheapen the cars then they should make them cheaper.

I was looking for a new crown Vic a few years ago. 28 thousand for a base model Vic and no dealers even have them in stock. So if I get a newer one ill but a 2 year old one and save 10 grand

 

While I like them yo umight want to read the truck part of this article and with Toyota getting into NASCAR it is only going to get worse.


BBC NEWS | Business | US carmakers losing out to rivals

Truck sales hit

December sales at GM were worse than forecast - dropping 13% on the month - and led by a 19% fall in truck sales. Car sales fell 1.6%.

Ford itself said car sales had risen in December, as Americans switched to smaller, more efficient vehicles, while truck sales were down 14% compared with December 2005.

The company blamed rising fuel prices and a soft housing market for poor truck sales