Lewis Booth: We are going through a very strong period at the moment. We do expect that to come off. We are seeing some industry beginning to downturn. We are also seeing currency moving against the dollar reported earnings in Latin America. So we are expecting to see them come off what has been an extraordinary strong performance.
Brian Johnson (Barclays Capital): On Ford Credit, how are you thinking about managing their liquidity versus the needs of Ford auto?
Peter Daniel: We are going to make the cash payments to do the reduction in the receivable portfolio as it declines. And there are a couple of pieces that are driving the decline, including Jaguar Land Rover moving away, Mazda moving away, and then the industry decline as well.
And we will balance the return of capital with our successful execution of the funding plan as well to make sure we continue to support Ford in the financing of the products.
Douglas Carson (Banc of America): GMAC announced intentions to try to gain bank-holding status. Do you see any strategic advantages for such actions at Ford Credit?
Lewis Booth: The strategic advantage we see is having Ford Credit as an owned, captive financing company. That’s the strategic asset. Given that’s our view, we couldn’t apply for a bank holding company because of that ownership structure. So our structure is unchanged. We see Ford Credit as a key part of the way we do business.
We do have an application pending for industrial loan bank and obviously we would welcome that because that would put us on parity with some of our competitors who already have ILCs approved.
Douglas Carson (Banc of America): How does it feel out there when you are talking to your dealers?
Neil Schloss: As far as wholesale financing goes, right now in the U.S. we are doing about 77% of our dealers. And the other 23% obviously have been done through other banks and other finance companies.
And in Europe right now we are financing 98% of the dealers. So, so far, as we’ve been able to continue to fund ourselves, we have been very supportive of our dealers, from the funding aspects.
Bryce Hoffman (The Detroit News): Did I understand you correctly that you have already sold some asset-backed securities through the government’s bailout program?
Alan Mulally: Yes, about $4.0 billion.
Jeff Bennett (Dow Jones Newswires): What would you now classify as a non-core asset and also could you explain your stance regarding Volvo now, just based on the deterioration that continues to affect them?
Alan Mulally: Our focus on Volvo is clearly to improve their current business performance. And we are really working on the new vehicles, especially on the premium side, and we are also, as you can see today, we continue to move decisively on the cost structure and the productivity. But that’s our main focus with Volvo.
And with all of our assets we are continuing to focus on the blue oval around the world and we are always looking at all of our assets to make sure we are divesting of the ones that are not key to our long-term growth.
Lewis Booth: Within non-core assets we are also looking at some sale of land and buildings that we are not using. We are obviously continuing to work our ACH plan, so there’s a lot of little things in there.
Sarah Webster (Detroit Free Press): Can you elaborate on when the 10% reduction, whether it will be voluntary or involuntary, and when employees will know whether or not they will be keeping their jobs?
Alan Mulally: It will be involuntary and it will be by the end of January. And part of that will be attrition, too, so it will be a mixture. It will be concentrated in North America.
Joann Muller (Forbes): Are you considering similar types of loan programs in Europe or Asia that the U.S. Congress is also considering?
Lewis Booth: The most significant is the direct loan that the European Automotive Industry Association has requested from the European Commission of 40.0 billion Euros . And we are working within the ACEA association to pursue that opportunity.
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