Ford ’s head of North and South American operations, Mark Fields, said in an interview today that Ford may have to speed up its cost cutting if a slowing U.S. economy puts the automaker at risk of missing key financial goals in 2008 and 2009. Fields said that amid an uncertain housing market and job growth, “there’s more risk than there is opportunity going forward.”
Fields went on to say that Ford is on track to meet the 2008 cost-cutting target and 2009 profitability goal. Ford could slow production in the fourth quarter to avoid excess inventory — something that has plagued Chrysler in the past.
There is no doubt that Ford is in the midst of a complete revamp of its North American operations. The automaker has already shut down a number of its plants and is the middle of drastically reducing the size of its dealer network. GM also recently announced that it would be cutting shifts at its pickup truck assembly plants.
