Good news from Ford

[AL the Inconspicuous]

From AP -- Ford earns $2.7 billion in 2009 --

Ford Motor Co. made $2.7 billion in 2009, its first annual profit in four years.

The automaker on Thursday also forecast a full-year profit in 2010.  Earlier it had only promised to be "solidly profitable" in 2011.

Ford benefited from cost-cutting, a $696 million profit in its credit arm and popular cars and trucks like the Ford Fusion midsize sedan and Ford Escape small sport utility vehicle.  It gained market share in North and South America and Europe, despite the worst U.S. sales climate in 30 years.

"While we still face significant business environment challenges ahead, 2009 was a pivotal year for Ford," Ford CEO Alan Mulally said in a statement.

Ford's 2009 net income of 86 cents per share showed a significant improvement from the year before, when it lost a record $14.6 billion. Excluding one-time items of $711 million, Ford made 43 cents per share. Those items included severance payments and retiree health-care charges.

The profit surprised Wall Street, where analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected an annual loss of 31 cents.

In the fourth quarter, Ford earned $868 million, or 25 cents per share, compared with a loss of $5.9 billion a year earlier.  Ford earned money in three of the four quarters last year.

Ford said it will make profit-sharing payments to its U.S. hourly workers in March.  They will be the first profit-sharing checks since 2004.

The Dearborn-based automaker's debt load increased by $7.4 billion to $34.3 billion, largely because it took a charge of $7 billion to account for debt to a union-run retiree health-care fund.  That puts Ford at a disadvantage to GM and Chrysler, who were able to shed debt in bankruptcy court.

[AL the Inconspicuous]

From Global Post -- Fordzilla vs. Japan --

It may not be a giant radioactive lizard, but Ford is stomping all over Japan's auto industry.

First, some full disclosure.

I was born and raised in Detroit as the proud son, grandson, nephew and brother of autoworkers. Nearly everyone in my family works (or has worked) for one of the Big Three, or for the suppliers that feed and fuel that powerful economic engine.

Like most Detroiters, we lived and died by the tumults of the auto industry.

General Motors and Ford wages put food on my family's table and sent me to college. I spent my 1970s childhood worrying: will Mom and Dad lose their jobs? And, most threateningly, will Japan's automakers kill off our gritty, car-choked hometown?

For as everyone knew back then, Detroit was churning out enormous, gas-guzzling cars that broke down, or in the infamous case of the Ford Pinto, could explode on impact. Stealthy Japanese automakers, meanwhile, became the very model of small car fuel efficiency and quality.

To those of us in Detroit, Japan wasn't a faraway and exotic land of neon, sushi and glamorous geisha girls. It was Godzilla - a murderous and grotesque monster determined to stomp out our fair city.

So I hope you'll forgive the air of triumphalism in this column, which I'll get out of the way now: Take that, Japan.

I'm referring to this week's two most fascinating pieces of global economic news: Ford's profits rebirth and the recall disaster at Toyota (and, to a much lesser extent, Honda, which also announced a recall this week).

First, the good news.

Ford posted a profit in 2009 of $2.7 billion dollars. This balance sheet renaissance was occurring even as -- east on I-94 and north on I-75 from its Dearborn headquarters -- GM and Chrysler were surviving thanks only to billions of government bailout dollars.

Even more astonishing, Ford's turnaround follows the company's $14.7 billion dollar loss in 2008.

"During the worst economic recession in 30 or 40 years, because of the strength of the plan we put in place a few years ago, we were not only able to survive but also to create a foundation that is delivering now profitable growth", Ford's CEO Alan Mulally said upon release of the report. Mulally also said that Ford is on track to turn a profit this year, too.

Now for Toyota.

The Japanese automaker is having one of the worst weeks in recent corporate history following the recall of nearly 9 million cars worldwide for sticky accelerator pedals and other flaws, and a temporary production shutdown at factories in the U.S. and Canada.

Then on Friday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said it is tentatively planning a hearing next Thursday on the question: "Toyota Gas Pedals: Is the Public At Risk?"

No, it hasn't been a good week for Toyota.

"I don't think we've ever seen anything to this magnitude", Jake Fisher, a senior engineer with Consumer Reports magazine, told the New York Times. "We've never seen multiple production lines shut down. If you go to a Toyota dealer right now, they can't sell you a Camry, they can't sell you a Corolla or a Highlander."

So what's going on?

With regard to Toyota's sudden and severe quality crisis, most analysts point to the company's rapid growth as it set out to squeeze its Detroit competitors. The strategy worked spectacularly, of course. Toyota is now the world's largest automaker, and the second-biggest in the U.S. But somehow, its legendary focus on quality -- this line of argument goes -- has been lost in the mad dash for market share.

To fight back against its latest woes, Toyota this weekend is reportedly planning a marketing and PR blitz to reassure customers that its cars are still safe.

Ford, meanwhile, has gone the opposite direction.

Under the direction of former Boeing boss Mulally, it has cut costs, sold off unprofitable or distracting divisions like Jaguar, and has designed and engineered a new line of fuel efficient, practical vehicles that consumers actually want to buy. In other words, Ford started acting more, well, Japanese.

Of course, plenty could still go wrong with the company. It still has $34.3 billion in debt. The global auto market is still awash in unsold cars. And the global economy is still on weak legs, particularly in the U.S.

But for now anyway, this native Detroiter thinks the revived U.S. automaker deserves a new nickname: Fordzilla.

Long may it rampage.

[davann]

I would not be surprized if Ford is in fact shuffeling money around and using some creative accounting. Either way, my next vechicle will be Toyota or Hundai. Anything I can do to hurt American union members is all good in my book.

[AL the Inconspicuous]

Do you honestly think Japanese or Korean auto industries exist in a freer economic environment?!  They have a government Ministry of Industry pulling all the strings!

I gave up driving until I can do so on privately-owned or at least locally-owned roads, without a government oversight monopoly, and in a vehicle built without government taxes, subsidies, regulations, and so on.  But that's just me...

[AL the Inconspicuous]

From AP via MyWay.com -- Ford sales jump; outsells GM on strong car demand --

Ford Motor Co. outsold General Motors Co. in February for the first time in more than a decade.

Ford sold 334 more cars than GM in the U.S. It was the first time since August 1998 that Ford outsold GM.

Ford's said Tuesday its sales jumped 43 percent thanks to strong demand for its cars. The automaker grabbed some sales from Toyota, which is struggling with a massive safety recall.

Ford said it saw renewed demand from rental-car companies and other corporate fleets, which are buying again after weak sales in 2009. Ford's fleet sales surged 74 percent over February of last year.

Ford had expected sales to climb from last February, when U.S. sales plummeted in the midst of the recession.

Ford says car sales climbed 54 percent as consumers continued to shop for more fuel-efficient vehicles.

[Bill Brasky]

From AP via MyWay.com -- Ford sales jump; outsells GM on strong car demand --

Ford Motor Co. outsold General Motors Co. in February for the first time in more than a decade.

Ford sold 334 more cars than GM in the U.S. It was the first time since August 1998 that Ford outsold GM.

Ford's said Tuesday its sales jumped 43 percent thanks to strong demand for its cars. The automaker grabbed some sales from Toyota, which is struggling with a massive safety recall.

Ford said it saw renewed demand from rental-car companies and other corporate fleets, which are buying again after weak sales in 2009. Ford's fleet sales surged 74 percent over February of last year.

Ford had expected sales to climb from last February, when U.S. sales plummeted in the midst of the recession.

Ford says car sales climbed 54 percent as consumers continued to shop for more fuel-efficient vehicles.

\\Putting random quotes into a shitbox is shit. 

[mikehz]

I do believe a Toyota would be a great buy right about now, what with the government hammering them in order to drive up the sales of their own Government Motors brands.

[davann]

Do you honestly think Japanese or Korean auto industries exist in a freer economic environment?!  They have a government Ministry of Industry pulling all the strings!

Nope. I just have a large chip on my shoulder toward american unions. One fucked me out of my chance to become a doctor when it screwed my father out of work when it wouldn't budge during negotiations with a private owned company and left me without a safety net for education. And the unions wonder why their numbers are decreasing.

[Sam Gunn (since nobody got Admiral Naismith)]

I do believe a Toyota would be a great buy right about now, what with the government hammering them in order to drive up the sales of their own Government Motors brands.

I've always preferred GM  and even Ford to the Japanese brands, but I would totally go for a Tacoma 4x4 (always have liked those), now would be the time to buy.

[The ghost of a ghost of a ghost]

[Diogenes The Cynic]

I think American automakers have made all the initial advances into automotive technology from the very beginning.

Using an assembly line, robots, on-board computers, ABS, and hydrogen fuel cell technology were all American ideas. They started first, had the lions share of the world market, and many other advantages at the outset, so how did it come to this?

A lot of it wasn't the automakers fault. When steelworker unions forced the government to impose tariffs on imported steel to support local industry, it hurt Detroit. When foreign nations limited imports of American cars, and trucks, it hurt them, and Detroit. When America became increasingly hostile to business, it hurt Detroit.

What things they did to themselves to create this position was capitulate to the unions. That began the end. Another problem was increasing their coziness with lawmakers for special privileges. The government was already acting like a social battering ram, so hey, why not get on the good side of it?

Their management also made some serious blunders. They concentrated on short-term sales instead of long-term growth. They didn't see an end to cheap oil, and were unprepared for the oil crises of the 70's. They didn't invest in the robotic technology that the Japanese were beginning to use because the UAW wouldn't let them, but it was already too difficult to move plants overseas by that time. They also concentrated too much on sales and not enough on quality. They had plenty on their staff for marketing, but not enough for engineering. What engineering they did involved planned obsolescence, and that eventually came to bite back at them as perceptions of lack of quality came from that.

The stock sales to the Royal Saudi family also hurt them. Having that many shares insured their people on the board, and those guys didn't want to move away from gasoline, or big cars.

So it was a combination of screwing themselves, getting screwed by foreigners, and getting big-time screwed by the government that led to this.

[AL the Inconspicuous]

Drifter is being nonsensical.

WidespreadPanic is trolling.

Congratulations, Diogenes The Cynic, you get to be the voice of reason on this thread. 

[Riddler]

they got sunk because of union wages & moreover, pension & medical benefits promised to retirees.....simple fact
see how i did that?,
without bloviating for an entire page?

[The ghost of a ghost of a ghost]

Drifter is being nonsensical.

WidespreadPanic is trolling.

Congratulations, Diogenes The Cynic, you get to be the voice of reason on this thread. 

YOU ALRIGHT! I learned trolling by watching you!

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