A quick question, how much US bailout money has Ford asked for?

[RB TexLa]

If this is all because of the downturn in the economy and not any fault of the car makers themselves they should have asked for proportionality the same amount as the other two, right?

[AlinPA]

1. zero.

[msongs]

2. oh you already know the answer :-) nt

[atreides1]

3. None

At this time.

[madrchsod]

4. well..they did hire a guy who knows what he is doing

maybe gm can find someone who knows how to run a company with the best product line in america...but knowing gm they`ll place another loser in charge.

[spoony]

5. It isn't that Ford is doing great

It's that they don't want to jump through hoops like GM and Chrysler have had to do. The workers don't want to be told they must give up more, and the bosses sure as hell don't want Obama firing them. So they're steering clear. It's not because they're sitting pretty or anything, but they took out a huge line of credit privately to keep their reserves from drying up. So your "point" is off target.

[amandabeech]

11. Mulally and Billy Ford before him got going sooner and are doing a decent job.

GM could use better management, but the guy that Obama put in is not the answer, either.

Mulally saw a downturn before most did and secured that financing ahead of time.

I don't like his outsourcing, but he's looking pretty good overall.

[gratuitous]

6. I don't think Ford has taken any federal money

I think I saw it on Daily Kos (but it could have been somewhere else), but Ford has apparently not plunged into ancillary products and services the way GM and Chrysler have. Their core business has been automobile manufacturing and finance (Ford Motor Credit), so they've sustained less of a hit from the economic downturn.

[Winterblues]

7. I think I recall hearing that Ford suffered it's worst third and fourth quarter losses ever.

Ford showed up with their hand out at the beginning but then realized how the Government was going to put them through the wringer so they decided to opt out and hope for the best.

[moondust]

8. Ford borrowed a ton of money

before credit dried up. Thus they didn't need all the gov't loans. This is per Csaba Csere who retired as editor-in-chief of Car and Driver on January 1. On CNN yesterday.

[Igel]

9. They asked for something like $8 billion, which was set aside.

They have yet to draw down any of the money.

In other words, they asked, and then said, "No, wait a minute, we might not need it after all--but by all means, have it standing by, just in case." And there it sits, "standing by".

[Hannah Bell]

10. they wanted gov't credit lines. "just in case"

[Deja Q]

12. Henry Ford paid his workers wages that allowed them TO buy the goods they made.

The good employees that did a good job and had loyalty.

If more companies offered such living wages, we wouldn't be in this economic mess. I believe that is a contributing factor - enough of one to say. (Please correct me where I'm wrong. I'll listen.)