Discursul CEO-ului Ford in fata Congresului

[Darth-Claudiu]

NOTE TO EDITOR: Today, Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Mr. Mulally's complete written testimony is available at: http://media.ford.com. The following statement was prepared for delivery:

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 4 – "Mr. Chairman, Senator Shelby, and members of the Committee. Since the last hearing, I have thought a great deal about the concerns you expressed. I want you to know I heard your message loud and clear.

On Tuesday, you received Ford's detailed and comprehensive business plan, and I appreciate the opportunity to return here today to share Ford’s vision and progress in becoming a profitable, growing company.

You were clear that our business model needs to change. I agree. And that's exactly why I came to Ford two years ago to join Bill Ford in implementing his vision to transform our company and build a greener future using advanced technology. Let me share with you what we have done to change from how we used to do business to how we do business now.

It used to be that we had too many brands. Now we have a laser focus on our most important brand: the Ford blue oval. In the last two years, we sold Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover – and reduced our investment in Mazda. And this week, we announced we are considering a sale of Volvo.

It used to be that our approach to our customers was: If you build it, they will come. We produced more vehicles than our customers wanted and then slashed prices, hurting the residual values of those vehicles and hurting our customers. Now we are aggressively matching production to meet the true customer demand.

It used to be that we focused heavily on trucks and SUVs. Now we are shifting to a balanced product portfolio, with even more focus on small cars and the advanced technologies that will drive higher fuel economy in all of our vehicles.

It used to be that our labor costs made us uncompetitive. Now we have a ground-breaking agreement with the UAW to reduce labor costs, and we appreciate the UAW's continued willingness to help close the competitive gap.

It used to be that we had too many suppliers and dealers. Now we're putting in place the right structure to maximize the efficiency and the profitability for all of our partners.

It used to be that we operated regionally – European cars for Europe. Asian cars for Asia. American cars for the U.S. market. Now we are leveraging our global assets, innovation, technology, and scale to deliver world class products for every market.

It used to be that our goal was simply to compete. Now we are absolutely committed to exceeding our customers' expectations for quality, fuel-efficiency, safety and affordability.

This is the Ford story. We are more balanced. We are more efficient. We are more global. And we are focused. In short, we are on the right path to becoming a profitable, growing company.

We have moved our business model in a completely new direction, in line with the most successful companies – and competitors - around the world. And as a result of our progress, we made a profit in the first quarter of this year. Unfortunately, we all are facing a severe economic downturn that has slowed our momentum.

Despite this downturn, Ford does not anticipate a near-term liquidity crisis. In fact, we expect our automobile business to be profitable in 2011. But we do support a government bridge loan because it is critically important to the U.S. auto industry.

Specifically, Ford requests access to $9 billion in bridge financing – something we hope we will not need to use. Instead, as we continue to drive change in our company, this line of credit will serve as a critical safeguard, if events require it. And if we did need to access this loan, we would use the money to continue our aggressive transformation and restructuring.

Ford is an American company and an American icon. We are woven into the fabric of every community that relies on our cars and trucks and the jobs our company supports. The entire Ford team – from employees to shareholders, suppliers to dealers – is absolutely committed to implementing our new business model and becoming a lean, profitable company that builds the best cars and trucks on the road for our customers. There is a lot more work to do, but we are passionate about the future of Ford.

In fact, we invite you to visit us in Dearborn to kick the tires, look under the hood and talk to our employees. We hope you will join us and see for yourself the progress we are making to develop the vehicles of the future."

Nota: La intalnirea precedenta, un senator republican i-a intrebat pe cei 3 crai (CEO-ii de la GM, Ford si Chrysler) daca au venit cu un avion de linie comerciala. Niciunul nu a ridicat mana, toti au venit cu private jet-uri. Dupa intrebarea asta i-a intrebat daca ar fi dispusi sa se intoarca cu un avion de linie comerciala si iarasi niciunul nu a ridicat mana...Cam prea populisti republicanii astia...Dar s-ar putea sa-i salveze Obama peste 3 luni cand preia efectiv fraiele. Deocamdata au primit doar banuti pentru a supravietui 3 luni.

[Darth-Claudiu]

Articol de pe http://www.ft.com

By Bernard Simon in Toronto and John Reed in London

Published: December 2 2008 15:47 | Last updated: December 2 2008 16:47

Ford Motor laid out plans on Tuesday for a family of hybrid petrol-electric and fully electric vehicles as part of a blueprint to accelerate the restructuring of its loss-making North American car and truck business.

Ford also said in a submission to Congress that it expects to break even or return to profitability, on a pre-tax basis, by 2011. The carmaker earlier this year abandoned its target of returning to profitability by 2009.

EDITOR’S CHOICE
In depth: Detroit in distress - Oct-10US auto union makes concessions - Dec-03Detroit paints an increasingly bleak picture - Dec-03Lex: Detroit’s misleading mantras - Dec-03US carmakers ask for $34bn - Dec-03John Gapper’s blog: The hard road from Detroit to Washington - Dec-02In spite of the current slump in sales, Ford said in a statement that it does not expect to run out of cash in 2009, “barring a bankruptcy by one of its domestic competitors or a more severe economic downturn that would further cripple automotive sales and create additional cash challenges”.

The comments were part of submissions by Ford and its two Detroit-based rivals – General Motors and Chrysler – to Congress to justify their plea for $25bn in emergency government funding. GM and Chrysler are due to release their plans later on Tuesday.

The three carmakers have suffered massive losses in recent years and are haemorrhaging cash.

Ford’s financial position is relatively less precarious than GM and Chrysler, thanks to a $23.5bn loan negotiated two years ago. Its cash reserves stood at $18.9bn on September 30, down $7.7bn from three months earlier.

Alan Mulally, chief executive, expressed the hope that the restructuring plan “helps instill confidence in Ford’s commitment to change, including our accountability and shared sacrifice during this difficult economic period.”

The company said it was asking for access to up to $9bn of the emergency loans, but that it hoped to complete its restructuring without needing the funds.

Shares in Ford climbed more than 11 per cent to $2.84 in morning trading on Wall Street.

As part of its drive to cut costs, Ford said that it was in discussion with the United Auto Workers union to eliminate the gap in labour costs between itself and foreign-owned plants in North America, which are not unionised.

UAW leaders are due to hold an emergency meeting in Detroit on Wednesday to discuss reopening labour contracts signed with the three carmakers last year.

It also spelt out plans to trim its dealer network and said that it would continue to “aggressively match manufacturing capacity to real demand”.

Ford has over the past three years reduced its workforce by 51,000. Over the past five years, it has closed 17 plants in North America, including a third of its assembly plants.

The carmaker said that the accelerated drive to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles would yield a full electric van for commercial fleets in 2010 and a battery-operated sedan in 2011.

The average fuel economy of its car and light-truck fleet would improve by 14 per cent for 2009 models, 26 per cent for 2012 models and 36 per cent for 2015.

It said that it would sell its fleet of five corporate aircraft as part of its cost-cutting plan. Mr Mulally and his counterparts at GM and Chrysler were excoriated by US lawmakers two weeks ago for bringing their begging bowls to Washington in their corporate jets.

In response to criticism of his compensation, totalling close to $50m over the past two years, Mr Mulally has agreed to a nominal salary of $1 if Ford draws on the emergency loans.

Mr Mulally said that “while we clearly still have much more work to do, I am more convinced than ever that we have the right plan that will create a viable Ford going forward and position us for profitable growth”.