maybe if they took some of the $ they spend on advertising and put it into actual quality control they would be selling more trucks instead of less. they better do something. and quick.


Ford: Biggest loss ever
Annual shortfall roars past company record, as quarter loss comes in wider than expected; larger operating losses ahead.

January 25 2007: 9:26 AM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Ford Motor Co. reported the largest annual loss in company history Thursday. The embattled automaker posted a fourth-quarter loss that was worse than analysts' expectations and the company warned of worse showings ahead.

Weak sales of its key pickup trucks in the quarter and $9.9 billion in after-tax charges due to employee buyouts and plant closing plans resulted in $12.7 billion loss for 2006.

That works out to a loss of just over $24,000 a minute throughout the course of the year, or about the price of a Ford Mustang.

As bad as the financial report was, it did not shock Wall Street. Shares of Ford (Charts) were a few cents higher in early pre-market trading, as revenue came in slightly better than forecasts.

The company has seen big drop in consumer demand for its key products, such as the F-series pickups. While still the nation's best-selling vehicle, the pickup saw sales plunge by more than 100,000 trucks in 2006 in the face of record fuel prices and a slump in the housing market, which cut demand from contractors.

Best from the Detroit auto show
As the higher fuel prices drove Americans back to car models, Ford was left with a weak product lineup. Its Taurus sedan, once the nation's best-selling car, was discontinued in 2006 after years of seeing most of the demand for the model be from rental car companies. It also got out of the business of making minivans last year as it struggled to play catch-up in the hot "crossover" segment that provides buyers with a more car-like drive for a larger family vehicle.

The shift in buyers' preference left Ford with numerous truck factories that were idle much of the quarter, even as unionized hourly workers continued to be paid near full salary. It responded to the downturn by offering all 75,000 of its U.S. factory workers buyouts or enhanced retirement packages to leave the company, which more than half of them agreed to do.

Most of the charges related to those downsizing efforts. The 2006 loss compares to restated net income of $1.4 billion in 2005, when earnings from its credit unit overcame auto losses.

The company's prior worst loss on record was 1992, when a charge for a change in accounting practices led to a net loss of $7.4 billion. The last time the company posted a full-year loss was 2002.

Losses excluding special items, such as the buyouts and plant closing charges, came to $2.8 billion for the year, or $1.50 a share. That compares with a earnings of $1.9 billion, or $1 a share on that basis a year earlier.

"We began aggressive actions in 2006 to restructure our automotive business so we can operate profitably at lower volumes and with a product mix that better reflects consumer demand for smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles," said a statement from Ford CEO Alan Mulally. "We fully recognize our business reality and are dealing with it."

The company's larger operating losses in 2006 came even as it trimmed $1.4 billion in costs during the year on savings in its retiree health care program from the United Auto Workers and from a decline in both its hourly and white collar staff.

But the drop in sales volume cost it $3.3 billion compared to 2005, and lower pricing on the vehicles it did sell cost another $1.9 billion.

For the fourth quarter, Ford posted a loss from continuing operations of $2.1 billion, or $1.10 a share, excluding special items. That compares to a profit of $285 million, or 15 cents per share, a year earlier, again on earnings from the credit operations.

Ford ended the year with 37,700 salaried employees in North America, down almost 5,000 from a year earlier, and 77,900 hourly employees in the region, down nearly 8,000 from a year earlier. It plans to cut another 18,000 to 23,000 hourly positions and 9,000 salaried jobs by 2008.

Revenue for the quater was $40.3 billion, down $6 billion from a year earlier, as auto revenue fell $4.7 to $36 billion. First Call had been forecasting auto revenue of $34.7 billion for the period.

Ford, which had long been the nation's No. 2 automaker behind General Motors (Charts), fell behind Toyota Motor (Charts) in U.S. market share in the fourth quarter, and even fell behind DaimlerChrysler (Charts) in U.S. sales in November. GM and DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler Group are also expected to post losses in the fourth quarter, as they lose market share to Japanese automakers such as Toyota and Honda Motor (Charts).

 

That's funny.

Ahhhh, thread #583,390 on Ford woes...

 

yeah i guess it would be funnny as long as it wasn't you sitting at a light this morning in your 2006 F150 with 1200 miles on it that hit the car in front of you because your "Quality is job 1" truck decided to surge forward on its own while it was idling. Or was that someting new ford is building into their trucks now.....anticipatory acceleration maybe? the truck sensed the light was about to change so the engine revved without me touching the gas pedal? yeah....top notch quality.

 

Ford is finally catching up to the German auto makers. Audi had that feature back in the mid to late eighties.

 

Wow, 1 out of like 800,000 F-series sold had a problem. Yippie. Sucks that you have bad luck. NO automaker turns out 100% problem free vehicles. I know that the rest of America saw a story on the local news about "Ron150" in Jersey having problems with his F150 and decided not to buy. I'm sure it had nothing to do with skyrocketing fuel costs, etc...

 

 

i'd venture to say mine isn't the only one out of those 800,000 with a problem. but you keep your head buried deep in the sand just like the executives at ford. you'll be flippin burgers soon enough.

and skyrocketing fuel costs affect everyone. so why aren't all of the other manufacturers bleeding cash?

 

Calm down guys, geeze!

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=F

Seems investors were a bit hopeful this morning...up until 11AM when the earnings report came out.

 

I missed that. When was it on?

 

Ford outsell the competition to some competitors of a ratio of 8:1. Of course you'll have more problems and more complaints per thousand. Unfortunately most of the public can't understand that.

 

Maybe if "Ron" posted his trucks demise in his original post instead of throwing it in everyones face after the fact, this thread would be more civil. Apparently that is the real story here.

 

yes count me in as one of the public that doesn't understand it. my truck has already been in for a rattling dashbord, squeeking back window and now this. all in the first 1200 miles. can't imagine what surprises await me.

 

no. the real story is that the company is bleeding cash so fast and losing market share to competitors so quickly that it's future as a viable entity is in doubt. the only one who cares about a brand new $30k vehicle that accelerates on its own are the poor fools who own them.

 

And the people who are in front of them.....

 

I currently own 2005 Toyota Tacoma. That has toyota dependibility. My truck has 30k miles on it. It's been for clutch pedal assembly replacement because the first one squeeked, I had a cab rattle under 30 degrees which was fixed under a TSB to replace the cab mounts, my a/c compressor "crapped" the bed at 9k miles. Not to mention other TSB's that are out there for pinging exhaust manifolds, leaky windshileds, squeeky leaf springs, dash separation.

My point being is that all vehicles have problems period. Doesn't matter who makes them.