Ford Motor

Title: "The Whiz Kids: Ten Founding Fathers of American Business -- and the Legacy They Left Us"Author: John A. ByrnePublisher: Currency/DoubledayLength, price: 581 pages, $27.50You hear and read a lot these days about the death of the American Dream."

Robert Lee "Bob" Bell, who began his career in auto sales in the 1950s and went on to own the Bob Bell Automotive Group, one of the state's largest car dealers, died Sunday of leukemia at theUniversity of Maryland Medical Center. The Ellicott City resident, who earlier had lived in Laurel, was 78. Born and raised in Alexandria, Va., Mr. Bell was appointed a Capitol Hill U.S. Senate page and graduated from the Senate Page School. "He was a page for Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn," said a daughter, Mary Catherine Bishop of Ellicott City.

Ford Motor Co. recalls almost 800,000 vehicles DEARBORN, Mich. -- Ford Motor Co. is recalling nearly 800,000 pickups and sport utility vehicles because the cruise control switch could short-circuit and cause a fire under the hood. Yesterday's recall affects about 792,000 Ford F-150 pickups, Ford Expeditions and Lincoln Navigators from the 2000 model year. Also affected are 2001 F-Series Supercrew trucks made at the same time. Ford will notify owners of the recall next month, and dealers will deactivate the cruise control switch free and fix it later, once the company has an adequate supply of replacements.

Carl Gordon Kirwan Jr., a retired businessman who enjoyed restoring and driving vintage automobiles and riding to hounds in Howard County, died Feb. 8 of cancer at the Lisner-Louise-Dickson-Hurt Home in Washington. The longtime resident of Woodbine, Howard County, was 84. Mr. Kirwan, whose father was vice president of the Cumberland Coal Co. and mother was a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised on Brightwood Road in Howard Park. He attended the McDonogh School and the University of Maryland, College Park.

DEARBORN, Mich. -- Ford Motor Co. said yesterday that its fourth-quarter profit tripled, beating estimates, as strong U.S. earnings from Expeditions and F-150 light trucks helped offset continuing losses in Europe and Latin America.The automaker said profit from operations rose to $1.3 billion, or $1.10 a share, from $440 million, or 32 cents, in the year-earlier HTC period. Analysts had expected earnings of 98 cents a share, the average estimate in a survey by IBES International Inc.The improvement came mainly from Ford's rejuvenated U.S. operations, which struggled last year to introduce several new models but are now feeding growing demand for pickups and sport utility vehicles, analysts said.

A Carroll County jury awarded damages yesterday to two women who were burned when their 1981 Mustang caught fire in a 1996 collision -- but only from the driver of the other vehicle, not from Ford Motor Co.Trial began Dec. 1 in the civil case, brought by plaintiffs Jacqueline M. Maize, 35, who was driving her husband's Mustang on Route 97 near Union Mills when the accident occurred June 4, 1996, and Christine L. Griggs, 32, a passenger who was severely burned.The...

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Jacques Nasser sounds like a man ready to leave cold Detroit winters behind. En route to a surf trip to his native Australia last month, the former chief executive of Ford Motor Co. quietly swung through Menlo Park, Calif., to confab with some top tech investors. In his first interview since resigning from Ford under pressure last fall, Nasser admits he's intrigued by the possibility of running a Silicon Valley company. "One of the areas that has always fascinated me, particularly over the last few years, was technology and the way it's brought to market," said Nasser, who spent 34 years at Ford before being forced out amid plunging profitability and market share.

Robert Lee "Bob" Bell, who began his career in auto sales in the 1950s and went on to own the Bob Bell Automotive Group, one of the state's largest car dealers, died Sunday of leukemia at theUniversity of Maryland Medical Center. The Ellicott City resident, who earlier had lived in Laurel, was 78. Born and raised in Alexandria, Va., Mr. Bell was appointed a Capitol Hill U.S. Senate page and graduated from the Senate Page School. "He was a page for Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn," said a daughter, Mary Catherine Bishop of Ellicott City.

Ford Motor Co. recalled nearly 3,900 1991 Capri cars yesterday, citing possible problems with transmission oil cooler hoses and clamps.The affected cars have automatic transmissions, Ford spokesman Jim Trainor said.Owners will be notified by mail and any necessary repairs will be done at dealers at no charge, the automaker said.

The Ford Motor Credit Co., looking to establish its first regional operations center to process car loans, is considering leasing an office building at the Columbia Gateway business park.Jim Bright, a spokesman for the Ford Motor Co. subsidiary, said yesterday that the Columbia site, off Interstate 95 and Route 175, is one of several locations in Maryland and Northern Virginia under consideration."We have been working closely with the state and Howard County, and they have been helpful," Mr. Bright said.

DETROIT: UAW workers at Ford Motor Co. reluctantly ratified an agreement that reduces their benefits, break time and potentially weakens the fiscal soundness of a retiree health care fund in an effort to help the ailing automaker survive the global recession. The United Auto Workers said yesterday that 59 percent of production workers and 58 percent of skilled-trades workers voted in favor of the agreement during elections at locals nationwide. "Once again, UAW members have stepped up to make the difficult decisions necessary to deal with the reality of the current economy, the deteriorating auto industry as a whole and specifically the negative impact the economic climate is having on Ford Motor Co.," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said.

Auto-financing giant GMAC relinquished its exclusive right to provide financing to people buying General Motors vehicles in exchange for up to $6 billion in federal aid. The deal abruptly ends a 10-year contract between GM and GMAC, according to the lender's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday. In the past, whenever GM offered vehicle financing and leasing specials, such as below-market interest rates, it did so through GMAC. The lender paid an annual fee to GM for the exclusivity and was required to meet sales targets.

DETROIT - Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Alan R. Mulally and his top managers will take the next steps today toward deciding how many salaried workers the company must involuntarily lay off as it continues downsizing in the face of a brutal U.S. economy. A final decision - which could slash more than 10 percent of the company's 24,300 white-collar jobs in North America - is expected in the next few weeks, as the automaker aims to swiftly wrap up all the personnel reductions by Aug. 1 and preserve cash it might need for the tough months ahead.

DETROIT -- A year ago, Ford Motor Co.'s sprawling assembly plant in Wayne, Mich., which builds the Focus compact car, was on the chopping block as part of the automaker's restructuring plan, putting the lives of its 3,000 workers in flux. But today -- as the struggling U.S. economy has consumers on the hunt for affordable, fuel-efficient cars -- the 56-year-old plant and its workers are running a full-out effort: two nine-hour shifts on weekdays, plus some Saturdays to keep up with increasing demand for the redesigned Focus.

An Indian carmaker has moved to the forefront of negotiations to buy two of the world's most prestigious car brands from Ford Motor Co. Yesterday, Ford named Mumbai-based Tata Motors the preferred bidder for Jaguar and Land Rover. Tata beat out a rival Indian carmaker and an American private equity company, and sale talks are now expected to enter their final phase. "While no final decision has been made, we will proceed with further substantive discussions with Tata Motors over the forthcoming weeks," said Lewis Booth, Ford executive vice president.

Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally said the "head winds" of a slowing economy and tighter credit won't delay the automaker's return to profitability. "We put together a pretty robust transformation plan," Mulally said in an interview this week in New York. He said the strategy, which has the second-biggest U.S. automaker turning a profit in 2009, anticipated the risks of an economic slowdown as well as greater difficulty for companies and consumers in borrowing from their usual lenders.

Ford Motor Co.'s financial division said yesterday that it will close its Columbia customer service center in July, cutting 200 jobs in Maryland while giving employees an opportunity to be placed at other facilities. The move comes a day after the automaker announced a sweeping cost-cutting plan that would eliminate up to 30,000 jobs over six years and close 14 manufacturing plants. Chris Solie, a spokeswoman for Ford Motor Credit, said the center's closing was unrelated to the large-scale restructuring efforts but part of a continuing process within the financial services arm to operate more efficiently.

Stay alert! And never mind for what. Maryland university chiefs used to connive to become governor. Finally, it's the other way round. This state must continue to jail innocent people. Anything else would inconvenience the bail bond industry, and we just can't have that. Cheer up. Not only will the Ford Motor Co. be run by a Ford again, but one whose mother was a Firestone.

Until recent years, nothing was more fun than playing with - I mean running - an American car company. Like a youngster accumulating more toys than the other kids, Ford Motor Co.'s leadership had snapped up Britain's Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover luxury brands, as well as Swedish safety stalwart Volvo. What could be cooler? It didn't have any idea how to make money with them, but those trips to Europe must have been a blast. Can you imagine the great model-year introduction parties?