FORD MOTOR COMPANY "IN LIMBO?"

What will William Clay Ford, Jr. do to get out from under the current mess at FoMoCo? According to the rumor mill, aided and abetted by the press, FoMoCo will:

• "Seek an alliance with Renault-Nissan," or
• "Sell Jaguar and Land Rover to group headed by Jacques Nasser, Ford's ex-CEO," or
• "Sell Jaguar to a British machinery company [JCB construction-machinery group ]," or
• "Reduce Ford family voting rights," or
• "Become a private company controlled by Ford family," or
• "Sell a stake in Ford Motor Credit."

Stay tuned . . . undoubtedly another restructuring "trial balloon" will float over the River Rouge any time now.

The most active speculation is that FoMoCo wants seconds on cost-cutter Carlos Ghosn if GM passes on Kirk Kerkorian's vision of a new "Renault Alliance." Dave Guilford at Automotive News (www.autonews.com) has speculated that waiting for Ghosn has jammed up the works. Guilford wrote that "Bill Ford has said he will do 'whatever it takes,'. . . For now, 'whatever it takes' translates to 'no definite plan.'" Guilford concluded that FoMoCo, thus, is "in limbo at a crucial time."

No news there! The simple truth is that, except for FoMoCo's raids on the Mazda and Volvo parts bins and the occasional trick Mustang, FoMoCo has been directionless for quite some time.

FoMoCo's malaise and limbo undoubtedly remind some of Thomas Becket's tragicomedy "Waiting for Ghosn" . . . I mean . . . "Waiting for Godot:"

"ESTRAGON: (giving up again). Nothing to be done.

VLADIMIR: I'm beginning to come round to that opinion. All my life I've tried to put it from me, saying Vladimir, be reasonable, you haven't yet tried everything. And I resumed the struggle.

* * * *

VLADIMIR: He said that Godot was sure to come tomorrow. (Pause.) What do you say to that?

ESTRAGON: Then all we have to do is to wait on here."

At some point, there will be nothing left to cut and no more tepid Mazda or Volvo stuff to repackage as FoMoCo "waits" for Ghosn or whatever other "bold move" that will somehow solve its declining market share problem in a single stroke. Moreover, the time spent hacking away at FoMoCo's atrophied design and industrial muscle has an "opportunity cost" of new market opportunities lost. When all of that comes to critical mass, FoMoCo's "limbo" will become a "coma."