Ford rocket was a fizzer

Press, 9 December 1980, Page 15

Ford rocket was a fizzer

NZPA correspondent ' Cape Canaveral Henry Ford must have turned in his grave as the announcement “mission aborted” was made at the Cape Canaveral space launching site. It was yet another sign that the motor company he founded is going through one of those spells when nothing goes right

On the launching pad was a communications statellite made by Ford’s aerospace subsidiary. Watching were about 200 journalists flown in by Ford from all over the world m a costly imagerestoring bid to show that although things might be bad for the car business, the Ford company over-all was still, in the words of the company’s chief executive, Mr Philip Caldwell, “a dynamic worldwide enterprise.” The 576.6 million launch was a fizzer — a fuel leak in the Atlas Centaur rocket that was to put it into orbit causing the cancellation. The celebration party went ahead, but Ford executives were rueing the decision to spend $250,000 on a public relations exer-

cise that did not get off the ground. Journalists from as far as Australia had been flown to the United States, at Ford’s expense, to watch the launching. Mr Caldwell’s annual year-end press conference had been moved from Detroit to Cape Canaveral for the occasion. It was presumably designed to divert attention from the sorry plight of Ford’s American car business. “We hope,” said Mr Caldwell earlier, “this will be an auspicious occasion for the auto industry at; well.”

Instead, the satellite stayed on the pad and the journalists went home, the biggest story of the day being an announcement — made in Detroit — that Ford will pay part of the interest rate for time payment buyers on some new models to try to get car sales moving again. (The rocket eventually was launched safely, after a second postponement, at the week-end). It was the latest chapter in a 1980 story of woe for Ford. The company had a record loss of $595 million

for the third quarter of the year — the second highest in American corporate history. Ford’s United States car sales this year are running at 31 per cent below 1979 levels. With the prime bank interest rate up to 19 per cent hopes of new life in the market with the introduction of 1981 models were not good. Also recently Ford lost an appeal to the International Trade Commission for import restrictions on Japanese cars, which with nearly 25 per cent of the market are still attracting fuel-con-scious American buyers. Denying charges that the $250,C00 public relations exercise was “too lavish” in Ford’s present circumstances, Mr Caldwell put on a brave face at his press conference.

Ford was a world-wide company, he said, and the presence of overseas journalists underlined its global interests. In spite of a bad year in America, Ford was investing in the future, spending $3OOO million world-wide on new facilities and tooling. In 1981, the figure would be $3300 million. The company’s cars and trucks were doing well overseas, and the success of the aerospace, steel, glass, tractor, and electronic divisions testified to “the strength and diversity the company has realised over seven decades.” Half Ford’s total revenues came from outside the United States, he said, adding, in an aside later, that unfortunately, at present, so did all the company’s profits.