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Ford Offers Buyouts to All UAW Workers

 DETROIT, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (F.N) said on
Monday it is offering its 41,000 U.S. factory workers buyouts
and early retirement offers in a bid to reduce its payroll
costs as it aims to return to profit by 2011.

 The buyouts mark the second round of such offers for Ford
workers represented by the United Auto Workers union this year.
About 1,000 workers took Ford's earlier offer in July.

 While Ford was the only U.S. automaker to have avoided
bankruptcy in the past year, its relative success has
complicated efforts to win concessions from its major union.

 Ford workers have until late January to accept the offer,
which includes payouts of up to $70,000 cash for newer hires to
$60,000 cash for veterans already eligible for retirement.

 "Despite a strengthening in our business, we still have a
surplus in employees," said Ford spokesman Mark Truby.

 Ford did not provide a target for how many workers it
expected would take the buyout offers.

Ford to Get Retooling Loans

Ford Motor Co. will today become the first Detroit automaker to receive loans from the U.S. Department of Energy to help cover the cost of developing and building more fuel-efficient cars and trucks, according to people familiar with the decision.

In its application to the Energy Department, Ford said it would use the money to help cover the cost of retooling some of its U.S. truck plants to produce small cars from Europe.

That would include the planned conversion of the former Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, MI.

Ford Posts $8.7 Billion Loss

Ford Motor Co. announced plans to transform its vehicle lineup and reported a massive second-quarter loss Thursday.

Ford (F, Fortune 500) stock fell about 8% in early trading.

“Because of deteriorating economic conditions, demand has declined dramatically, especially in North America,” said Ford CEO Alan Mulally, who also blamed rising gas prices for the decline.

Ford said that three large truck and sport utility vehicle plants in Wayne, Mich., Louisville, Ky., and Cuautitlan, Mexico would be switched over for the manufacture of small cars. Re-tooling will begin in December, the company said.

In addition to converting the three plants in North America, Ford said it will ramp up production of small utility vehicles at its Kansas City, Mo., assembly plant, including the Ford Escape, Escape Hybrid, Mercury Mariner and Mariner Hybrid.

Ford has been offering buyouts to the hourly employees among its 54,000-strong workforce. But only 4,200 workers accepted, far short of the company’s goal. On Monday, Ford said that a new round of buyout and early retirement offers had been made to workers at 17 facilities.

Ford Planning to Retool Truck Plants to Build Cars

Ford Motor Co., long dependent on profits from pickups and sport utility vehicles, is assembling a plan to shift entire truck plants to car production in a bid to keep up with changing consumer demand in the United States, according to sources familiar with the company’s plans.

Plant managers and local union leaders from around the country have been summoned to Ford’s Dearborn headquarters Friday.

They’ll discuss the challenges facing the automaker and the broader U.S. automobile industry as the price of gasoline continues to set record highs and consumers flee pickups and big SUVs for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

In what would be one of the most dramatic manufacturing transformations in Detroit’s history, Ford would retool some of its North American plants to produce vehicles being built in Europe, where it is a leader in the small-car segment. Ford also is conducting a thorough review of its entire product pipeline in North America, hoping to accelerate the introduction of new, more fuel-efficient cars and to build more vehicles on fewer platforms.

“This is very doable,” Cole said. “Labor is scared to death right now and willing to do things that wouldn’t have been possible before. You can’t not do it. Alan is ready to bite the bullet. The old Ford is gone.”