Ford Profit Comes as Toyota Hits a Bump

DETROIT -- When (Alan R. Mulally) joined Ford in late 2006, (he) liberally borrowed from Toyota’s playbook — focusing on fuel efficiency, quality and so-called global cars to sell in markets around the world. He even hired away a top Toyota executive, James Farley. This week, at least, the student is doing better than the teacher. Ford, which managed to skirt the problems that forced crosstown rivals General Motors and Chrysler to seek government bailouts, reported a surprising profit on Thursday of $2.7 billion for 2009, its first in four years. Ford’s profit for 2009 — which Mr. Mulally called a “historic and pivotal” year — partly results from deep cost cuts and layoffs.

Toyota US Sales Halt Deals Blow to Image, Earnings

NEW YORK -- Toyota's suspension of U.S. sales on an unprecedented scale to fix faulty gas pedals deals a blow to the automaker's reputation for quality and came amid intense pressure from the Obama administration. The Obama administration said it pressed Toyota to protect consumers who own vehicles under recall and to stop building new cars with the problem. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told WGN Radio in Chicago that "the reason Toyota decided to do the recall and to stop manufacturing was because we asked them to."

Toyota dealers said they were concerned the move would hamper sales. They hoped parts to fix the problem could be distributed quickly. John McEleney, who owns a Clinton, Iowa, Toyota dealership, said the sales stoppage affects about 60 percent of the inventory on his lot. He said he was hopeful Toyota would come up with a fix soon — especially because the longer a vehicle stays on a dealer lot, the more money a dealer pays in interest fees. "Short term, it's going to be difficult," he said. "It will certainly set us back, but I think the impact will be very short lived."

Ford Net May Be $2.65 Billion as Mulally Achieves 'Impossible'

Ford Motor Co. may report 2009 net income of $2.65 billion tomorrow after overcoming the worst U.S. auto market in 27 years and avoiding a federal bailout. An annual profit would be the first for CEO Alan Mulally and ratify his strategy of developing new models such as the Fusion hybrid while slashing the North American workforce by about 47 percent since he joined Ford from Boeing Co. in late 2006. “This is a company that absolutely bled money in the last five years,” said Bernie McGinn, president of McGinn Investment Management of Alexandria, Va., which owns 320,000 Ford shares. “Mulally has done what had been considered impossible in a very short amount of time.” Mulally, 64, reiterated yesterday to reporters in Washington that Ford won’t be “solidly profitable” on an operating basis until 2011, saying he’ll give “updated guidance” once earnings are out.

Toyota halts US sales of 8 recalled vehicle models

WASHINGTON -- Toyota Motor Co. said Tuesday it was suspending U.S. sales of eight recalled vehicle models to fix accelerator pedals that stick, the latest quality problem to confront the world's No. 1 automaker.

As part of the plan, Toyota said it was halting production at five manufacturing facilities for the week of Feb. 1 "to assess and coordinate activities." There are 2.3 million vehicles involved in the recall, which was announced last week.

"This action is necessary until a remedy is finalized," said Bob Carter, Toyota's group vice president and general manager.

The Japanese automaker says the sales suspension includes the 2009-2010 RAV4, the 2009-2010 Corolla, the 2009-2010 Matrix, the 2005-2010 Avalon, the 2007-2010 Camry, the 2010 Highlander, the 2007-2010 Tundra and the 2008-2010 Sequoia.

It was unclear how long Toyota would suspend production of the vehicles. In an e-mail to employees, company officials said, "we don't know yet how long this pause will last but we will make every effort to resume production soon." Toyota officials did not immediately return phone messages.

Toyota said the company would stop producing vehicles at plants in Indiana, Kentucky, Texas and Canada. They said no other North American Toyota facility would be affected by the decision.

The auto company said the sales suspension would not affect Lexus or Scion vehicles. Toyota said the Prius, Tacoma, Sienna, Venza, Solara, Yaris, 4Runner, FJ Cruiser, Land Cruiser and select Camry models, including all Camry hybrids, would remain for sale.

Toyota said last week it was recalling 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. to fix accelerator pedals with mechanical problems that could cause them to become stuck.

That announcement followed a larger recall months earlier of 4.2 million vehicles because of problems with gas pedals becoming trapped under floor mats, causing sudden acceleration. That problem was the cause of several crashes, including some fatalities.