Ford Runs Out of US Dealerships Cash

Despite the fact that it repeatedly said the company does not need financial support from the United States government, Ford is clearly experiencing the same economical problems as the other two struggling automakers in the country. And the best sign of a financial collapse at Ford comes from a recent statement of Ken Czubay, Ford vice president of U.S. sales and marketing, who said the American company will slash the budget addressed to dealerships in order to protect strategic locations.

In other words, Ford will allocate less money to US dealerships, as part of its plan to rely on a number of businesses said to help it stick to its restructuring plan. According to Autonews, Ford didn't mention how much money it plans to use to subsidize dealership consolidation in 2009, but the company is clearly aiming to reduce costs in this sector.

"We don't have an expansive budget other than to protect strategic locations. We have a very limited budget to help us in strategic metro locations,” Ken Czubay was quoted as saying by Autonews. "We are working aggressively with our dealers to get them to couple up and face the realities of the market."

Ford used subsidies in the past three years to reduce the overall number of dealerships across the country by 609 stores, Autonews wrote, which brought the total number of authorized showrooms to 3,787 at the end of the last year. However, the company does not plan to help dealerships anymore as the financial collapse of the automotive industry plus its continuously decreasing sales forced the American automaker slash budgets in almost every single area.