PARIS, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Ford Jr. said on Wednesday that he sees no end to Detroit's brutal price wars any time soon.
Spending by Detroit's Big Three automakers on incentives -- including generous cash rebates and interest-free loans -- to lure customers into showrooms may ease up a bit, Ford said.
But he added that incentives, which erode automakers' profits, were an irrevocable part of doing business in an ever more competitive industry.
"It will get ratcheted down. It won't get turned off," Ford told reporters. He spoke after addressing an automotive seminar ahead of Thursday's opening of the Paris Motor Show.
"We're not going to wake up some day and incentives are all going to be gone," he added. "I think some of us would love that day but the customers wouldn't. so therefore, we're not going to do it".
Cheap loan deals and rebates have been key to "pushing the metal" or selling the wares of Detroit automakers for decades. But Ford's leading rival, General Motors Corp ÂGM.NÂ, took incentives to a new high by introducing zero-percent loans after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Zero percent has hurt the bottom line of some foreign automakers, as well as Ford and the Chrysler arm of DaimlerChrysler AG . which both moved quickly to match GM.
But industry analysts say Ford, in the midst of a painful turnaround plan after last year's loss of $5.45 billion, is hurting the most from sky-high overall marketing costs.
Ford, great-grandson of the automotive pioneer who founded his family-controlled company 99 years ago, used his address here to highlight some of the progress the world's No. 2 automaker is making toward the cost-cutting goals outlined in its turnaround plan.
"Wall Street is not a terribly patient place," Ford said. He was alluding the drop in the company's shares in trading over the last week to 10-year lows.
Ford shares were up 3.9 percent at $9.70 in early New York Stock Exchange trading on Wednesday.