FORD Motor Co will conduct additional "targeted" buyouts at some US plants as the world's third-largest car maker shrinks its workforce to match dwindling sales.
Ford will decide "fairly soon" where the new offers will be made, spokeswoman Anne Marie Gattari told Bloomberg News. "Targeted" buyouts were discussed by plant managers and United Auto Workers officials at a meeting in Detroit last Friday, she said.
The plan for more early departures underscores the pressure on Ford after losses of US$15.3 billion over the past two years. Even with 38,000 US production workers taking buyouts since 2006, the auto maker may have too many plants and employees amid a 12-year decline in US market share.
"More buyouts mean Ford has continued excess capacity," said Dennis Virag, president of Automotive Consulting Group in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Ford is looking for additional savings as US gasoline at US$4 a gallon damps sales of large pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles. The Michigan-based auto maker relied on such vehicles for the bulk of its profits in the 1990s.
Citing the drop in light-truck demand, Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally last month abandoned a goal of returning to profit in 2009.
US sales for Ford fell 11 percent through May, outpacing the industry's 8.4-percent decline.
Ford trucks slid 14 percent, and cars were down 5 percent.
At least eight of Ford's 15 North American vehicle-assembly plants are being operated below full capacity, according to analysts' estimates.
Ford rose 27 cents, or 4.5 percent, to US$6.27 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading last Friday. The shares were little changed in extended trading after Gattari commented on the additional buyouts.
The meeting was a twice-a-year gathering at which Ford managers meet with leaders of the UAW.