Back when I started the General Motors Death Watch, I had no idea that I’d also be starting a Ford Death Watch. Or a Chrysler Suicide Watch. If you’d told me that they’d all be staring down the barrel of Chapter 11 at the same time, I would have found the suggestion highly improbable. As Edna Mole said to Mrs. Incredible, “And yet Darling, here we are.” And here’s Ford’s federally-mandate bailout plan. Automotive News [sub] headlines their summary “Ford tells Congress profit may be restored in 2011,” but that’s all kinds of misleading. In fact, Ford’s plan says The Blue Oval Boys won’t be profitable until at least 2011. And the cover sheet is covered with caveats, from continued decline in market share (ya think?) to “New or increased credit, consumer or data protection or other regulations resulting in higher costs and/or additional financing restrictions.” Well, at least Ford knows what political buttons to press to get Congressional democrats behind them…
“Ford said it would spend $14 billion in the United States on advanced technologies and products to improve fuel efficiency during the next seven years. That includes a plan to make available for sale a family of new hybrids, plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles by 2012. Ford said it will partner with suppliers to deliver a full battery electric van for commercial fleet use in 2010 and an electric sedan in 2011.”
Unicorn power! There’s only one dark cloud on the horizon: “Ford said it doesn’t anticipate a liquidity crisis in 2009 barring a bankruptcy by General Motors or Chrysler LLC.” What are the odds of that happening?
Henry Ford said on February 11, 1934: “Let them fail; let everybody fail! I made my fortune when I had nothing to start with, by myself and my own ideas. Let other people do the same thing. If I lose everything in the collapse of our financial structure, I will start in at the beginning and build it up again.”
I think plan outlined in SNL schtick was more to a point and more financially responsible. We are witnessing life imitating SNL.
Here is one SNL missed.
Someone should really circulate it when Congress debates the bailout.
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?CategoryId=12396&ArticleId=320909
tom: “Henry Ford said on February 11, 1934: ‘Let them fail; let everybody fail! I made my fortune when I had nothing to start with, by myself and my own ideas. Let other people do the same thing. If I lose everything in the collapse of our financial structure, I will start in at the beginning and build it up again.’ ”
Good ol’ Henry. What a lovable egomaniacal nut! Yeah, he did it all by himself. Couzens (managed the company), Wills (chief designer of the T) and Sorensen (production boss) had nothing to do with FoMoCo’s success.
What’s this? A plan?? Hmmmm…
-spend $14 billion to remake the fleet by 2013
-convert truck plants to cars to increase sales
-new hybrids and EVs
-full fund the VEBA
-finish selling off non-core assets
-operate as a self-sufficient company without government aid absent the bankruptcy of competitors
-use government “bailout” money only sometime in the distant future instead of this month
If Mulally can pull this off, he deserves every penny of his salary.
I remembered when you started the Ford and Chrysler ones. Back then, I wonder how things would be if the credit crunch hadn’t happened.
dwford :
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:18 pm
If Mulally can pull this off, he deserves every penny of his salary.
All 100 pennies?
That ’51 Packard will last longer than the Shrinking 2.8
when they were working on their restructuring several years ago, wasn’t profitability supposed to come in 2010/2011 anyways???….