Ford Lags in Cost-Cutting
June 19, 2007

Ford missed its cost-cutting and retail sales targets in May, according to its monthly report card for North America obtained by Dow Jones Newswires.

Ford fell behind its material cost-cutting target through May by 5 percent. Its retail market share, excluding fleet sales to rental car companies, was 10 percent, down 0.7 point from forecast due mainly to weakness in truck sales.

Ford blamed "distress in the supply base" as Ford’s leading reason to missed targets. Supplier financial difficulties and bankruptcies have forced Ford to extend supplier negotiations intended to lower prices and eliminate the difference between its forecast for material costs and the actual performance.

Ironically, Ford’s pressure for price cuts could hurt suppliers even further.

Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:35 AM under Ford , News | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine