Ford banking on comeback

By ALASTAIR SLOANE motoring editor

In its efforts to cut costs and save money, Ford has gone to extremes in the past - such as in the 1980s when it unscrewed half the lightbulbs in the company's facilities to save power.

Now, as it faces mounting debt in its centenary year, its chief financial officer Don Leclair has ordered the company to stop paying for all subscriptions to magazines. Ford executives can buy their own, he says.

Leclair won't say how much the carmaker expects to save on subscriptions but critics say the edict sends a mixed message: it came as Ford whooped it up over the production of its 300 millionth vehicle.

Ford chairman and chief executive officer Bill Ford drove the milestone car, a red GT convertible Mustang, off the line at the Ford Rouge Centre. He called it his "dream car", putting on a positive face and making only a passing reference to difficult times for the company.

Like other American carmakers, Ford's market share has slipped. Credit agency Standard & Poor's the other day downgraded Ford's bond rating to "BBB-minus," one level above junk, but with a stable outlook. No mention of that at the 300 millionth shindig though.

"The people who have counted us out recently are going to be surprised by what they see," said Bill Ford.

"We'll have 40 new products next year worldwide. And in the next five years, we'll have more than 200 new products worldwide. We're coming back."

The Mustang wasn't the actual 300 millionth car, it was a ceremonial model. Ford couldn't even begin to identify the exact car, not with 110 factories in 25 countries on six continents building cars simultaneously.

So it took its third-quarter production figures, projected numbers for the fourth quarter and just picked a car. Conveniently, it was an all-American model.

The Mustang will, like other commemorative vehicles, remain company property and be trotted out for special occasions.

Trainspotters will say that 300 million is an exaggeration. Sure, not all of the vehicles carried the Ford nameplate. But all of them were vehicles built by the Ford Motor Co.

The number includes Volvos made since Ford bought the company in 1999 and Land Rovers since the takeover in 2000. All the others are there, too: Lincoln (since 1922), Jaguar (1990), Aston Martin (1987) and Ford-made Mazdas (1992), including the Tribute and Mazda6.

The 300 million represents an average of 5.7 vehicles a minute, every day for more than 100 years. "When the company built its one millionth car, my great-grandfather Henry Ford said, 'A million of anything is a great many,"' Bill Ford said.

"He would be very proud that his company has now produced 300 million vehicles. We're celebrating the past, but we're building for the future."

Ford produced its 20 millionth vehicle in 1931, the 50 millionth in 1959, the 100 millionth in 1977 and the 250 millionth in 1996.

Its best sellers over the years have included the Model T, with more than 15 million built between 1908 and 1927. The Ford F-Series pick-up truck is the company's top vehicle nameplate in the world with 29 million produced.

As part of its centenary celebrations, Ford is collecting stories and memorabilia commemorating "Rosie the Riveter", the employee who became America's "We Can Do It" poster girl for women joining the depleted labour force during World War II.

The history of Rosie the Riveter begins in 1942, when Rose Will Monroe was hired to work at Ford's Willow Run aircraft factory. Monroe worked on the line riveting aluminium panels on B-29 and B-24 military planes.

She caught the eye of Hollywood producers who were casting a riveter for a promotional film. Her exposure in the film resulted in the popular poster, by J. Howard Miller, where a stern-faced, muscle-flexing woman became a symbol of those who worked to keep American industry rolling.

After the war, Monroe became a businesswoman and pilot. Her daughter, Vickie Croston, is joining in the Ford celebrations.

"My mother was a special lady, and her attitude and willingness to take risks inspired other women to achieve," said Mrs Croston.

"I am so proud of her legacy because she remains an American icon for the strength found in every woman and her direct impact on history in this country makes such a profound and lasting impression."

Over the next couple of weeks Ford is involved in a 100th anniversary re-enactment in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, of Orville and Wilbur Wright's historic first flight in 1903. Ford's engineers helped to develop and test the engine - a modern replica of the crude original - that will power the only authentic, full-scale reproduction of the Wright brothers' 1903 flyer.