Apparently, according to an internal report card Ray Day spirited over to that made it's way into the hands of Mark Truby Bryce Hoffman at The Detroit News, FoMoCo ain't quite hitting the metrics it's set out for itself. This despite a request from new CEO Alan Mulally for "unblushing honesty" and "realistic goals for 2007." Apparently even reality isn't "realistic" enough as the plan points out FoMoCo's missed its retail sales market share goal in the United States by 10,600 vehicles and doesn't expect to make the goals set for February and March. The automaker's also expected to miss the material cost reduction goals the company laid out for the remainder of the year's first calendar quarter. In addition:
"Employee confidence in its turnaround plan has fallen. Fewer than half of employees say they believe Ford's Way Forward plan will help it achieve sustainable business success. Only 38 percent of employees said they were confident Ford has the right products to compete."
But the hard-working employees toiling away in the glass house should have nothing to fear, because their boss of the Americas, Mark "Movie Star" Fields...
...totally believes in them.
"Fields went over the report with employees Wednesday as part of his regular weekly Webcast, but acknowledged that he is having a hard time convincing them to keep the faith."
Ok, so maybe he doesn't believe in them so much. Well, he should look on the bright side — based on this "report card" at least we know that Ford employees aren't stupid. It seems they know perfectly well where they stand in class, and really don't need a "report card" to tell them that. But hey, at least the Edge is still selling well. Oh wait, they're offering incentives on that too.
Ford fix-it plan off track [Detroit News]
Photo By: Bill Pugliano / Getty Images News
Related:
Incentives Like To Live On The Edge Too; Alan Mulally Becomes Excited, Engages In Man-Love While At Boeing [internal]