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Posts Tagged “

ford motor company

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industry news

Leaked Fields E-Mail: Ford To Reduce Salaried Costs by 15%, Two-Ply Going To One

We've spent the morning checking out the leaked e-mail from Mark "Mullet" Fields to white-collar staff at Ford calling for another 15% reduction in costs associated with salaried work force. Yes, you heard that right — "costs associated with salaried work force." That doesn't mean a 15% cut in the salaried work force, but rather they'll seek some form of cost savings first. You know, the unimportant stuff like going from two-ply toilet paper to one-ply, air conditioning limited from two hours a day to one, further cutting the number of subscriptions to Automotive News and limiting corporate jet use. OK, we don't think that's really going to happen. Mostly because they've already done that. What this more than likely this means is that if you work at the big blue oval (still), look for suspension of the popular U.S. Salaried Tuition Assistance Program, the Salaried Dependent Scholarship Program and other useless perks. There may even be some salary cuts to go along with them. That's not to say there won't be job cuts, oh no. If those leaked rumors we'd heard from the meeting with Jim Farley are to be believed, there may be a 10-12% cut in salaried staff. If that's the case then they're only talking about a 3-5% cut in "other cuts." Gulp. Happy Friday. Full leaked e-mail below the jump. More »

10:40 AM on Fri Jun 6 2008
By Ben Wojdyla
1,171 views, 34 comments

Latest by thatguy01: @bline: Take it up with rlj, not me. AFAIK, he's complaining/commenting that his customers turned tail when gas got really high. more »

news

Tracinda To Expand Stake In Ford, Buy 20 Million More Shares

Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp is planning to add 20 million shares to its current pile of 100 million Ford Motor Company shares and is willing to pay $8.50 per share to do it. Trancinda made the announcement this morning to which Ford has responded with a "thanks for the vote of confidence" style statement. Seems KirkKerk is going for an automaker trifecta after past activities like buying a major portion of GM (then selling it), trying to buy all of Chrysler (and losing), and now getting into the 5.5% ownership range of Ford. Apparently falling market share but improving profit trends creates a mixed message that Tracinda is willing to stake a little coin on this quarter. [Reuters]

10:00 AM on Mon Apr 28 2008
By Ben Wojdyla
628 views, 12 comments

Latest by FЯeeMan: @DannyBN: dang! beat me to it! This just in... The Grinch stole Ford! Details at 11. more »

industry news

Ford Sales Up For First Time in 12 Months, Mission Accomplished!

It's taken 12 months of steady declines (strategic withdrawals) before Mark Fields could claim a victory in sales, by selling 182,951 cars in November. That's a whopping 0.4% increase over November 2006. Most surprisingly, the refreshed and SYNC-ed Ford Focus realized growth of 18% compared with last year. Sales of crossovers were up 119% compared with last year, thanks to the support of the Edge and MKX. How much of this is SYNC actually propelling sales or just a reflection of how poor things were last November is uncertain, but it's a bit of good news for the automaker. Press release below the jump More »

1:00 PM on Mon Dec 3 2007
By Matt Hardigree
771 views, 17 comments

Latest by Eric Lai: @JanTheMan: I love his S60/S80/C70 designs, but I would take quotes from car designers with a grain of salt: he's also the lead designer on the 09 Lincoln MKS - "Every element of this luxury sedan reflects the culture of Lincoln more »

newsflash

Report: Ford Considering Sale of Volvo

The Times UK reports Ford Motor Company is indeed pondering the sale of Volvo, further chipping away at the legacy of former boss Jacques "Jac the Knife" Nasser. (The Associated Press assigns a detail-free, "no comment" quote to a Ford spokesman.) Analysts value the Swedes at about $8 billion — 20 percent more than Ford bought it for in 1999. Sure, it'll be an influx of much-needed cash, but at what long-term cost? Volvo's a shining star in Ford's Premier Auto Group constellation. No bidders named yet, but expect breathless coverage as the the story develops. [via Times Online]

2:38 PM on Sun Jul 15 2007
By bwojdyla
695 views, 9 comments

Latest by Halib: 78TLC: One of the issues at Ford is the family own only 4% of the company but have control thanks to holding preference shares. I can easily believe they put their interests ahead of other stakeholders, destroying value if it more »

television

At Last! Hawaii Five-O Complete First Season on DVD

Fans of black Ford sedans, unisex hair styles, scenic Pacific vistas, and cheesy dialog, will be ecstatic to hear that the entire 1968 first season of television's finest Hawaiian cop drama is at long last available on DVD. While this news was first reported months ago, getting the discs onto the shelves was evidently about as an impossible task as McGarrett telling Danno to check every tire dealership on the island, or everyone that's eaten breakfast at the Honolulu International House of Pancakes since 1966. For those who feel like getting plastered, we have included a link to the rules for the Hawaii Five-O drinking game. Watch for flying hubcaps during chase scenes. – Mike Bumbeck More »

1:30 PM on Fri Mar 9 2007
By Mike Bumbeck
360 views, 3 comments

Latest by Cougar: Another fun 5-0 web site that lists all the Hawaii Five-0 TV shows and which vehicles were used in the episodes; www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/5196/hawaiiFiveO Can you find the Mercury Cougar? It's in Episode 15: Face of the Dragon more »