Ford To Shut Car Line, Discontinue Four Vehicles

Ford Motor Co. said Monday it will shut down its Thunderbird and Cougar car assembly line here as part of a plan to kill off four slow-selling vehicles by the end of the 1997 model year.

In addition to confirming the widely anticipated retirement of the Thunderbird and Cougar mid-size coupes, Ford said it will discontinue the Ford Probe sport coupe and the Ford Aerostar minivan.

The moves will indefinitely idle up to 2,500 workers, including 1,800 hourly workers at Lorain, 25 miles west of Cleveland, and up to 700 workers at Ford parts plants elsewhere.

The workers will continue to receive nearly full take-home pay and benefits under income security protections of Fords contract with the United Auto Workers.

 

Ford has to move with the market as defined by the customer, said Ford Automotive Operations President Jacques Nasser, noting that Americans have flocked away from coupes toward sport/utility vehicles and other light trucks. This business is always changing.

But Ford said the Thunderbird will be resurrected as a new speciality sports coupe that harkens back to its glory days in the 1950s. It will be developed from a new multi-vehicle platform and built at an undisclosed site.

Our intent is to restore the Thunderbird magic and return the vehicle to the charismatic, speciality vehicle it once was, Nasser said, adding that Ford has not made any decisions on the future of the Mercury Cougar name.

Ford also will keep the Lorain car line maintained so that it could be retooled to build a future model but said it had no specific plans. Production of Ford Econoline full-size vans, on a separate line in the Lorain plant, will continue.

Workers at the plant said they were angry and felt betrayed by Ford.

The union did everything they were asked to as far as getting a new vehicle in here, and as usual, Ford didnt come through, said assembly worker Carl Doak. Theres nothing to do except hope, wait and see what happens.

Production of the Probe will end June 17 at Auto Alliance International, a joint venture between Ford and Mazda Motor Corp. in Flat Rock, Mich. But as many as 900 workers temporarily idled at the plant were expected to return to work by September, when Auto Alliance begins building redesigned 1998 Mazda models.

Nasser also confirmed that Auto Alliance will build a future Ford model but declined to elaborate. Industry analysts have said the plant will build a new coupe for the Mercury division to replace the Cougar.

Aerostar production in St. Louis will end August 22, but Ford said the move will not affect employment there, because it plans to boost output of Explorer sport utility vehicles at the same plant.

The actions are Fords most dramatic cost-cutting moves since Nasser was put in charge of of the companys global vehicle operations in October.

Despite one of the strongest US vehicle markets in decades, Ford has earned lackluster profits on car and truck operations, falling far below its potential and causing alarm among executives.

Ford last shut down a US assembly line when it closed its Milpitas, California, plant in 1982.

Nasser, who also has taken steps to reduce excess Ford capacity in Britain, said he did not anticipate any further adjustments in North American capacity and products. I think on balance, Im reasonably confident weve got the mix right now, he said. The marketplace will let us know.

In 1996, Ford sold 79,721 Thunderbirds and 36,015 Cougars in North America, down 23.5 percent and 32.5 percent, respectively, from 1995.

Worldwide sales of the Ford Probe also have dropped, falling from a peak of 134,000 in 1989 to 43,000 in 1996. Worldwide sales of the rear-drive Aerostar peaked in 1990 at 204,000 vehicles but dropped to just 87,000 units last year.