Current News US | January 25, 2009 | 19 comments

Ford does not need government loans: CEO

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090125/bs_nm/us_ford_mulally

Image
Katanajon
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co has enough liquidity to fund its restructuring plan and despite the deep downturn in auto sales still sees no need to ask for government loans, Chief Executive Alan Mulally said on Saturday.

"We don't want to borrow any more money. We have sufficient liquidity to fund our transformation plan, which means our business is in a relatively good shape," Mulally told reporters on the sidelines of the National Automobile Dealers Association convention.

Ford's U.S. rivals, General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC, won approval in December for $17.4 billion of government loans to avert collapse. Ford has asked for access to a $9 billion credit line from the U.S. government but has not sought loans. Washington has not yet responded to Ford's request.

Mulally said Ford was in a better situation than its rivals because it borrowed more than $23 billion in 2006, using most of the company's assets as security, including its well-known blue oval logo.

Mulally said U.S. industry-wide sales in January had been similar to those in December, when they fell about 36 percent from a year earlier to 10.3 million units on an annualized basis.
  1. groups:
    Current News US
  2. tags:
    US,  America,  Current News US,  Ford,  3 more
  3.     
    |

19 comments // Ford does not need government loans: CEO

  • damnneargenius
  • Micaleth
    • 0
      Micaleth  

    • I approve of fords current plan.

      As am employee of the Detroit ford auto factory I have seen MANY accept buyouts or get laid off.

      I would rather them lay me off and call me back later than for them to accept any of this bailout cash.

      For every worker they lay off the save an average of 100k a year.
      Thats right , the average salary for a assembly line worker is around 100k in my Detroit factory.

      Ford layoffs are not permanent and they save the company massive amount of cash.
      Its logical to do this during a huge down time.

      We get laid off, wait 3 months or so and then we get a call back OR we get paid to relocate to a more productive factory.

      Hell, 4 years ago they paid me 120k just to relocate from Saint Louis to Detroit.

      Whats not logical is to not try and cut costs internally before you think of taking a loan out.

      Ford knows there is no such thing as free money.

      They recognize that everything they have was built on the strong backs of their employees and that only with continued strength will the survive to remain the premiere US auto company.

      I am willing to forfeit my salary and be laid off before I would ask my employer to accept tax money they dont need.

      Ford has CASH.
      They don't need loans.

      BUY FORD CARS!!!

    • 3 years ago
  • ilmor
  • superfinet
    • 0
      superfinet  

    • Great! Now make cars that aren't cars, and introduce a "new" FORD that delivers MORE than a 19 pitiful gallons of deadly fossil fuels per mile of travel at registered rates of velocity! Sheesh, a new F-150, more like a reversion to a time when....nevermind, I don't have the energy, and neither does this vehicle....

      I am not buying an enclosed motorized vehicle until it delivers >60 mpg, and is offered in a manual transmission format.

      ¡¡if it ain't manual, you ain't really drivin'!!

    • 3 years ago
  • Micaleth
    • 0
      Micaleth  
    • superfinet:

      Gonna be awhile before we see that.

      Today Obama addressed the nation and asked for 35mpg standard before 2011.

      Crazy huh.
      My Toyota Celica gets 40mpg already and they ask for 35mpg.

      Here is the secret.
      Get the most efficient car you can.
      Drive it only when necessary and walk or take the bus everywhere else.

      Some of the mid 90s 4 cylinders still get 40+ mpg.
      The newest hybrids dont ever match them.

      Walking or buying a 49cc scooter is great for summer.
      49cc Scooters are under a grand new and get 100+mpg

      Public metro travel is also a good alternative on nice days.

      I try and drive only on col or rainy days, other wise I use the train, bus or scooter.

      They are not going to fix the issue any time soon, so we need to do what we can to make the change in our own lives.

      :)

    • 3 years ago
  • superfinet
    • 0
      superfinet  
    • superfinet:

      I already do! I don't have a car anymore, I had a GREAT 96 VW got ~33 mpg which I thought fantastic at the time. I now have a fleet of bicycles which I proudly tout around town. Public metro here is awesome and equipped with bike racks with space for 2, they are rarely ever utilized by others, which is unfortunate. It is also unfortunate that standards expected are so LOW!!! any attempt in the past to exceed these dependent oil levels were quashed in the past, including one, by a man with a name that sounded like Rutabega, in the 1960s here in the States, he was silenced by our government (bought out and never allowed to make his 60+mpg inventive engine and corresponding craft). So sad, the ties between oil, government, and auto makers. Good on FORD for not letting 'the man' control their affairs, at least not directly. Now they [FORD] just need to step up to the plate and put some of it in to sciences (just like geology at colleges is siphoned into locating 'new' oil deposits) for a new generation to develop all this crap for them!!! or is that the gov'ts job, funding state schools? at any rate, we need to bully the industry into creating what we want & desperately NEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! screw that 35 mpg rating to the wall, and DOUBLE it!!!

    • 3 years ago
  • Commentor
  • lj111
  • Katanajon
    • 0
      Katanajon  

    • At least they are trying, they see the writing on the wall. They don't want Washington calling the shots in Ford Motor company!!!

    • 3 years ago
  • Kepano
    • 0
      Kepano  

    • This is what they say now, and watch the arrogance of the CEO’s, who make the wrong choices will cost millions of jobs. First they say they can’t operate without the government to assistance, now they say they don’t need the help. Who is really making the decisions of these matters. What will it cost and how many more jobs will be lost or outsourced before someone or some entity does something to stop this arrogance.

    • 3 years ago
  • news2metoo
  • news2metoo
  • Kepano
    • 0
      Kepano  
    • Kepano:

      We shall see that's your opinion. If anything Ford planned it this way, so it is a decisive corporate and Executive greed. Open your eyes, I bet you they will be begging for money by the end of this year.

    • 3 years ago
  • akamaial
    • 0
      akamaial [removed]  

    • These past few years I have owned a couple of Ford vehicles, and I put 130,000 on the 1st, and 227,000 on the 2nd. No regrets. I'll invest in Ford again when the time is right.

    • 3 years ago
  • jahbini
    • 0
      jahbini  

    • Good move and smart business for ford. but while they have not sold their soul, they have mortgaged their "well-known blue oval logo."

    • 3 years ago
  • Katanajon
    • 0
      Katanajon  

    • Why should FORD sell their soul to the Fed if it doesn't have to? This is gonna piss the fed off. They want total control. Opps too fuppin bad, sure glad I have been a Ford man for 20 years!!!

    • 3 years ago
  • hydrokat
  • kcfoxie
    • 0
      kcfoxie  
    • Katanajon:

      My dad had been a Ford man for nearly 30 years.

      Then gas his $4. He got a VW Diesel.

      Now we're a german family. Pity Ford won't sell the ECONetic Fiesta, The KA diesel or the Focus with their 2.2L Diesel engine. They all net better than 43mpg US. Which is what our VWs get.

      I'll buy a Ford, when Ford clues in to their rather sucessful past. The Escort Diesels were no where near has horrendous as the GM diesels, and many are still being driven today.

      I do say, bravo for resisting. But you've got your critics (like me), who wouldn't mind an alternative to the Germans diesel technology.

    • 3 years ago
  • DouginLA
    • 0
      DouginLA  
    • Katanajon:

      @kcfoxie,

      Trust me Ford would love to sell its small diesels in America, but the EPA will not let them. They would have to completely redesign the exhaust to sell them here.

    • 3 years ago
more from Current News US:
from the community

top videos