Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive
Officer William Clay Ford Jr. said U.S. industrywide auto sales
are “clearly softer” than last month and he asked executives at
the automaker to find another $1 billion in cost cuts.
“I’ve gone back to our folks” for more “non-product”
reductions, Bill Ford told investors in Boston at one of at least
four presentations planned this week. U.S. auto sales so far this
month are lagging September levels and forecasting next year is
difficult, he said.
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Ford’s shares rose 16 percent as the CEO told investors that
the cost reductions would be even deeper than the $9 billion by
2005 that the world’s second-largest automaker announced in its
January restructuring plan. Bill Ford said he doesn’t expect the
latest move to include eliminating more jobs.
“The cost cutting so far has been adequate but not
spectacular,” said Brian Bruce, director of global investments at
PanAgora Asset Management Investors, which owns 1.08 million
shares of Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford.
The shares rose $1.29 to $9.55 at 4:16 p.m. in New York Stock
Exchange composite trading. They have fallen 39 percent this year.
U.S. auto-industry October sales may be at an annual pace in
the “low” 16 million range, Bill Ford said. Last month’s pace
was 16.3 million cars and light trucks, Autodata Corp. said. The
CEO didn’t say how his company’s sales are faring this month.
General Motors Corp. said its annualized sales rate this
month is on pace to beat September. The industrywide rate may be
less than last month, said Bill Lovejoy, that company’s group vice
president for North American sales, service and marketing.
Bloomberg News
