Only reason why the Taurus was a "top seller" was because it had a monopoly as a fleet car. Otherwise, it was a crappy car. Remember the oval design?
Is Ford managed by morons or what? The past is still the future for Ford "Going forward, we're going to cherish this iconic name with the same clarity, confidence and intensity as we do with F- Series and Mustang," Cisco Codina, the head of Ford's North American sales team, said in a statement. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/sto...x?guid={789C0572-357F-4510-8B3A-A69F1571F847} How about... Five Hundred = Taurus Freestar = Taurus X Focus = Taurus S Fusion = Taurus M Crown Vic = Taurus XL
Well, Ford will probably end up being a buyout since they control several brands that are worth a lot more than Ford... however, nobody is going to buy em till they get rid of those thousands of useless employees... -that's gonna be expensive-.
Ford Plans To Retire Up To $10.4B In DebtLast update: 3/4/2009 4:40:50 PM By Jeff Bennett Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES DETROIT (Dow Jones)--Ford Motor Co. (F) announced plans Wednesday to restructure part of its debt, retiring up to $10.4 billion through cash and tender offers by the auto maker's financial arm, Ford Motor Credit. The company will use the combination of Ford Credit cash and equity from its parent to cut debt that stood at $25.8 billion at year-end. The move will trim debt-servicing costs at a time when Ford's liquidity situation has deteriorated because of the continuing slowdown in global auto sales. Ford has launched a conversion offer in which it is offering to pay a premium in cash to induce holders of its outstanding 4.25% senior convertible notes due Dec. 15, 2036, to convert about $4.9 billion in convertible notes. Holders who elect to convert the note into shares of Ford common stock will receive 108 shares of Ford common stock plus $80 in cash for each $1,000 principal amount converted. Ford Motor Credit, its wholly-owned finance arm, has commenced a $1.3 billion cash tender offer to purchase Ford's unsecured, nonconvertible debt securities, of which about $8.9 billion aggregate principal amount is outstanding. The finance arm also has started a separate $500 million cash offer to buy Ford's senior secured term-loan debt. The term offer will be conducted through a "dutch auction" under which term-loan lenders will be invited to submit bids to sell their term-loan debt. Both Ford and Ford Motor Credit's board of directors approved the measure Wednesday. Ford also announced it plans to exercise its right to defer future dividend payments on the 6.50% cumulative trust preferred securities of Ford Motor Co. Capital trust II beginning in April. The debt restructuring follows previously announced tentative agreements with the United Auto Workers that, if ratified, will allow Ford to lower its hourly labor costs and provide the option to use common stock to pay up to 50% of future payments to its health-care trust fund. Goldman Sachs & Co., Blackstone Advisory Services LP, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and JP Morgan Securities Inc. are serving as dealer managers in connections with the notes tender offer.
Ford Motor Credit Company Announces Launch of Cash Tender Offers as Part of Ford Motor Company's Debt Restructuring Plan http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Ford-Motor-Credit-Company-prnews-14545890.html Ford Announces Launch of Debt Restructuring Initiatives as Part of Company's Transformation Plan http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Ford-Announces-Launch-of-Debt-prnews-14545868.html snippet: Conversion Offer As part of this debt restructuring plan, Ford has launched a conversion offer in which it is offering to pay a premium in cash to induce the holders of its outstanding 4.25% Senior Convertible Notes due December 15, 2036 (the "Convertible Notes") to convert any and all Convertible Notes into shares of Ford's common stock (the "Conversion Offer"). The Convertible Notes were issued in 2006 and the outstanding principal amount of such Convertible Notes is approximately $4.88 billion. The Convertible Notes are currently convertible into shares of Ford common stock at a conversion rate of 108.6957 shares per $1,000 principal amount of the Convertible Notes. Holders who elect to convert their Convertible Notes into shares of Ford common stock pursuant to the Conversion Offer will receive the 108.6957 shares of Ford common stock plus $80 in cash for each $1,000 principal amount of the Convertible Notes converted. ****
Maximum amount of possible additional equity: 4.88 billion / 1000 face value * 108.6957 shares = 530.43 million shares Current total shares outstanding: 2.40 billion About 22% additional shares, assuming that all note holders convert
http://zerohedge.blogspot.com/2009/03/ford-equitizing-104-billion-in-debt.html The only US automotive company not to be on the taxpayer's payroll, Ford, earlier announced it would pursue a proactive debt for equity and cash exchange in which it would convert up to $10.5 billion of its $25.4 billion in debt at year end. The exchange is in fact a combination of three separate transactions: * $4.88 billion of 4.25% Convertible notes due 2036 which would receive Ford common stock at a premium, or specifically 108.6957 shares per $1,000 in converts. The result would be incremental dilution of approximately 530.4 million new shares, or roughly 22% of the 2.3 billion shares outstanding. * $1.3 billion cash tender offer for unsecured, non-convertible debt of which $8.9 billion is outstanding and which will be bought back at 30 cents on the dollar (including a 3 cent early tender premium) (assuming a 30 cent final conversion price this implies $4.3 billion in face notional will be retired). * $500 million cash tender offer for Ford's $6.9 billion senior secured term loan, launched by Ford Credit. The term loan will be purchased via a Dutch auction with bids ranging from 38 to 47 cents (assuming the low bid of 38 is the final one, implies $1.3 billion of the term loan will be retired). The full table of non-convertible securities which are eligible for the conversion is presented below. The conversion is a good start on the way to viability however the next and more crucial step is to have people actually purchase cars. And this is where Ford is in a lot of trouble, seeing how even BMW barely managed to sell 10 of its 7 series sedans in February.