Some industry analysts have speculated that bankruptcies at Chrysler and General Motors could give the Michigan automakers an advantage over cross-town rival Ford – as they will be able to shed mountains of debt and liabilities – but Ford executive chairman Bill Ford says the company will be better positioned for future success than its Detroit rivals because of its lack of government intervention.
Ford made his comments today at the National Summit in Detroit. “We don’t know what the implications are going to be, but one thing is for sure: I like our position,” Ford told Automotive News.
“We can make quick decisions, we can make the long-term decisions and we can continue to work the plan we have in place with no distraction.” Ford added the lack of government intervention will give the Blue Oval “an advantage” over the competition.
Although Ford is happy with his company’s decision not to take government loans, he’s grateful the federal government stepped in to prevent the imminent collapse of Chrysler and GM. Ford said an unsupervised bankruptcy at either automaker would have spiraled in to a “catastrophic” failure at the supplier level, leaving the entire U.S. auto industry crippled.
Ford has lost about $30 billion over the last three years but expects to return to profitability by 2011.
