FORD LOSSES HIT RECORD $2.3 BILLION

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 14, 1992                   TAG: 9202140117
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DETROIT                                LENGTH: Medium
FORD LOSSES HIT RECORD $2.3 BILLION
Ford Motor Co. on Thursday reported a record $2.3 billion loss in 1991, another sign that last year was the U.S. auto industry's worst.
Enormous losses expected from General Motors Corp. later this month would push combined Big Three automakers' losses toward $7 billion, far surpassing the previous record of $4.5 billion lost in 1980. Chrysler Corp. last week reported losing nearly $800 million in 1991.
Despite the miserable financial news, Ford Treasurer David McCammon said some faint signs of recovery can be seen. And if things hold together, he said, a turnaround in the strapped auto industry could begin by year's end.
Indeed, the Ford announcement coincided with industry sales figures that showed a surge of car buying in early February.
The 22.7 percent jump was the strongest in many weeks, although it was compared with anemic sales of a year earlier, when the nation was preoccupied with the Gulf War.
Still, many dealers have said they're seeing only more browsers, not buyers.
"They come in and shop and everything. They're just a little bit nervous," said Tony Viviano, owner of Sterling Heights Dodge in Sterling Heights, Mich.
For the fourth quarter, Ford said, it lost $475.7 million, or $1.03 a share, on $22 billion in revenues. That's slightly better than the $518.5 million, or $1.11 a share, the automaker lost in the final three months of 1990. Fourth-quarter 1990 revenues were $24.2 billion.
New-vehicle orders so far this year, McCammon said, were up 40 percent from last year's fourth quarter.
Ford is the second-largest automaker behind GM - scheduled to announce its results Feb. 24 - and is considered the most efficient, competitive manufacturer of the Big Three.
Last week, Chrysler Corp. reported a net loss of $795 million for the year, including one-time charges and gains. Excluding those changes, Chrysler lost $665 million.
Ford's 1991 loss worked out to $4.79 a share and came on revenues of $88.3 billion. In 1990, Ford earned $1.86 a share on $97.7 billion in revenues.
The company's $3.2 billion in automotive losses were partially offset by a $927.5 million profit in financial services last year.
Because of the large amount of cash on hand, none of Ford's new-vehicle programs should feel effects of cost-cutting measures, McCammon said. About $3 billion has been trimmed from expenses in the past 18 months, and he said the company wants to excise $1 billion more.
He said Ford has no plans for any large-scale salaried layoffs, further stock sales or plant closings. But he held out the possibility of brief plant shutdowns in 1992 and temporary layoffs of hourly workers.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB