Ford Caps Turnaround Effort

DEARBORN, Mich.—Ford Motor Co.'s F -0.29%expected sale of an auto-parts business on Monday will complete a six-year-long restructuring engineered by the executive seen as the front-runner to become its next CEO.

The sale of a small air-conditioning and heating parts plant marks the final step in a 2006 plan to slash Ford's North American workforce and sell its Visteon Corp. VC -0.16%parts plants put in place by Mark Fields, the head of Ford's North American operations. That effort helped Ford avoid the government-financed bankruptcies that befell rivals General Motors Co. GM -1.48%and Chrysler Group LLC.
Mr. Fields, 51 years old, is widely seen as the likely successor to CEO Alan Mulally, 67, who is nearing retirement. Completing the North American downsizing, which closed 16 plants and cut more than 39,000 employees, likely further enhances his candidacy.

Mr. Mulally hasn't said when he will retire but the board is preparing for his exit by the end of next year. Mr. Mulally would likely remain with the company for a period when Mr. Fields takes on added responsibilities, people familiar with the board's thinking have said.
While Mr. Mulally has been credited for Ford's financial resurgence in the past few years, Mr. Fields's role in the Visteon wind down has shown he can plan and execute, said Adam Jonas, an auto-industry analyst at Morgan Stanley MS -0.35%. "In the U.S. they battened down the hatches, they circled the wagons and they rode it out," Mr. Jonas said.

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Twinsdads comments...

YO!!  Obama!  You reading this??  I expect you aren't and you won't because this is how the system is supposed to work, not making the taxpayers shell out money to pay union dues.

YOU'RE FIRED!  (in just a few days...)