Tough Questions Linger

Jaguar Cars is not for sale, nor is Ford Motor Credit Co., say Ford Motor Co. executives. Those and other facts were not included in the auto maker's official Way Forward acceleration statements, and executives were stingy on answers in the question session that followed.

Jaguar, which has been a perennial money loser for Ford since it purchased the British marque in 1989, has been the subject of rumors it would be sold to raise money for Ford product development.

“We continue to be encouraged by the progress at Jaguar,” says Mark Schultz, president-international operations. “It's (Jaguar) on track with plans we laid out, and we have some strength on the product side. Jaguar is not for sale, we'll let you know if that changes.”

Don LeClair, executive vice president and chief financial officer, says the possible sale of all, or part of Ford Credit was reviewed, but ultimately it was determined to be an integral key to the auto maker's ongoing success.

When asked about speculation that the auto maker could go private, Executive Chairman Bill Ford says, “it's certainly not in our plans.”

Another topic lacking details was product. In a prepared statement, Mark Fields, executive vice president and president-The Americas, says five products have been added to Ford's pipeline. He later explains they all bow post-2008, and declines to list them.