What about the idea that The Ford Motor Company (F) will never make money in North America again?
Ford told Wall St for the second time in as many months that things at the company and in its home market were getting much worse..The firm’s shares promptly dropped another 6%.
According to Reuters, "Ford said it would post lower results for its core automotive business this year and said it would be difficult to avoid a loss in 2009." It will delay the new version of its flagship F-Series pick-up. No one was buying them anyway.
Ford says the US market may only produce 14.7 million vehicle sales this year. That is still wildly on the high side. Some analysts see a year when the number is unlikely to 14 million. The idea that the situation will get better next year is also just a pipe dream.
There evidence that oil prices will be lower in 2009 is terribly thin. So is any hope that the housing market will improve. A loaf of bread is likely to cost more than a pack of cigarettes.
Ford is not just in trouble. It is in a position where it has been pole-axed in its own market. It brought the ugliness on itself, but that does not keep it from being a shame.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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