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In the Tom Hanks movie Apollo 13, viewers were shown--some reminded--of the do-or-die spirit of the namesake spaceflight and its engineers. It was summed up in a famous phrase of those facing the choice between survival and doom.
Failure is not an option.
The chief executive of
Speaking Wednesday at an awards luncheon sponsored by the Automotive Industry Action Group, the eponymous CEO was quoted by The Associated Press as saying, "The first thing we have to do is get honesty on the table, honesty about our competitive position, the strength or lack thereof of our products, the robustness or lack thereof of our processes."
And on what precisely must the great-grandson of legendary founder Henry Ford focus that honesty?
As he explained, the automaker enjoys muscular liquidity, with some $20 billion in cash; and Ford's markets outside North America are healthy. The AP says the firm earned $2 billion last year--down 42% from the year before that, but still its third consecutive annual profit.
Unfortunately, its North American division lost $1.6 billion last year, and Ford's debt rating has sunk to below investment grade. It's also steadily losing ground in U.S. market share: Ford has a mere 18% of the U.S. market, down from 26% ten years ago.
The CEO laid out his cards, declaring, "We've got one big problem and it's the U.S. auto business, and we're going to fix that, and when we fix that, this discussion will disappear."
But that fix will come at a painful price: Ford said his company is continuing with its North American restructuring plan, which involves slashing up to 30,000 jobs and shutting 14 plants by 2012.
"Honesty" is rarely a gentle thing. More...
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