Ford puts its best face forward

Talk about putting a positive spin on a bleak story line.

The man in charge of marketing Ford Motor Co.'s sedans and crossover utility vehicles to consumers across North America - Michael Crowley - says his company is ready to rumble. That's because, unlike its domestic competitors, Ford is way better off.

Never mind that Ford issued one of its worst quarterly profit reports last week - a $5.9 billion net loss. The next day, Friday, Crowley was the only Detroit guy on hand at the Convention Center to begin the annual Philadelphia International Auto Show with a can-do news conference.

Instead of dwelling in the dumps and harping on the bad news that is hitting the U.S. auto industry with numbing frequency these days, Crowley and his company made a statement of strength.

Yes, times are tough, he said, as the show was about to open to the auto-adoring public. "The most challenging time I've ever seen in the industry," he said.

But at least Ford is doing better than General Motors Corp. or Chrysler L.L.C., he was quick to point out. And that is no small detail in a dog-eat-dog industry during a recession where lifeboat rhetoric is becoming more routine.

"Ford is the best-positioned to prosper - of our domestic automakers," Crowley said. Ford is the only one of the Detroit Big Three to have declined taxpayer loans to stay in business, even though it supports government assistance for its competitors.

"We're in the best financial position, we're funding our plan, we've got the best leadership we've ever had with [chief executive officer] Alan Mulally, a clear vision," said Crowley, seated among a dense display of shiny new wheels on the show floor.

"We believe we're on the right path," Crowley said. And when the economy recovers:

"Ford's in the best position to win."

It may be premature to predict winners and losers. The economic maelstrom that has ravaged global auto sales and triggered a surge of unemployment shows no signs of abating. Last week, tens of thousands more jobs hit the chopping block across different industries.

In the auto industry alone, the recession has triggered production pullbacks at factories, slowdowns among parts suppliers and closures of dealerships across the region - even some franchises that had survived for decades.

But with a new administration in Washington seemingly poised to unleash a massive rescue plan for the economy, the Ford marketing men on hand for the auto show were talking like, well, true marketing men.

Their message aimed straight at consumers, many of whom may lump Ford with Chrysler and GM even though Ford has not yet borrowed a single taxpayer dime.

"We're here in a big way because we have something to say," said Steve Randall, Ford's sales manager for the Philadelphia region.

The 2010 Taurus, the new Ford Fusion, the new Mustang Shelby, the high-mileage Ford Focus, the F-150 pickup truck - Randall pointed to them like a proud father.

"We have the products that people want," he said.

But not everyone peddling a Ford shares such optimism. Dealers shutting down because of sales drops are on edge.

The Philadelphia area alone lost about seven Ford dealerships over the last year, from Harrisburg up to Scranton across South Jersey and into Delaware, Randall estimated.

These closures have been Philadelphia's big auto-industry story line for months now - showrooms going dark in communities where they had been anchors. And it is the dealers who, through their regional association, put on each year's auto show.

"We're encouraging the combining of dealerships, the elimination of dealerships," Crowley said, "and we're providing assistance to the dealers to do that, because a lot of these folks, we've had relationships for a long time.