Ford may axe more jobs and close more plants if its current restructuring plan doesn’t meet goals, the Financial Times (FT) said.

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In an interview with the newspaper, Ford chairman and chief executive Bill Ford  said management had a “Plan B” it could selectively apply to aspects of the $US9 billion restructuring announced earlier this year.


“Plan B won’t consist of one lever that you pull and everything goes into action; there is a series of things like more headcount reductions, more plant closings, different actions by Ford Credit,” the Ford boss said in his FT interview.


The FT said that Bill Ford last January forewarned of further cuts if the restructuring plan announced then didn’t meet targets.


The newspaper said the fact a contingency plan exists shows Ford is having trouble confidently predicting whether its goals are achievable in current difficult trading conditions.

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Ford hopes to break even this year, after losing an estimated $800 million in the first quarter, the FT said.


Bill Ford told the FT of the difficulty reducing manufacturing costs.


“Product costs take longer to come out and that’s a part [of the business] we need to stay on as a management group every single week,” he told the FT.


Interviewed separately by the FT, chief operating officer, the Briton Sir Nick Scheele, indicated that Ford would likely review restructuring progress in the fourth quarter.


Strong US new car sales in the first five months of the ear had been a big help, Scheele told the FT, but, like his boss, he added that cost reduction was a problem.