Ford's future Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Ford's future - Essay Example Its North American automotive business is hemorrhaging cash and market share† is the comment by Bryce G. Hoffman from Detroit News. The fall of the empire of Ford is evident from the fact that Fords domestic brands -- Ford, Lincoln and Mercury -- saw their combined share of the U.S. market fall 4.7 percent last year, from 18.3 percent in 2004 to 17.4 percent in 2005. A decade earlier, Fords market share stood at nearly 25.6 percent. Every percentage point of market share represents 170,000 vehicles. With this background this paper aims at analyzing the factors that led Ford to reach this no-alternative ‘Way forward’ position and the likely impact of the decision to cut jobs and close manufacturing facilities on the future of Ford. The financial results for the year 2006 would be the worst in the 103 years history of Ford. The old record net loss of $ 7.39 billion would be surpassed by the loss for the year 2006 as already the loss is mounted at $ 7 billion for the first three quarters of 2006 and for the fourth quarter more losses are expected by the analysts. The financial situation of Ford was worsened by the collapsing sales of its F series Pick up and truck based sport utility vehicles in which segments the company made huge losses. New product investments -- utilizing Fords global architectures and scale -- to deliver more new products faster, including more crossovers, hybrid vehicles, new small cars, increased spending on Fords truck leadership and new "white space" products. A lean and flexible manufacturing system combined with capacity matched to demand. Capacity will be reduced by 1.2 million units or 26 percent by 2008, representing the majority of actions within the plans 2006-2012 periods. In order to give life to the restructuring plan, Ford mortgaged nearly all of its domestic assets- its plants, office buildings, patents and trademarks — along with stakes in Ford Credit and Volvo, to raise $18 billion. Ford said its restructuring