Jim Padilla Quotations

She's the heart and soul of the organization and the external leader. We have a short window of opportunity. If we don't do this (fundraising campaign) there's a risk there won't be a Focus: HOPE going forward.

One thing I am looking forward to is laying this out and getting all of our people focused on delivering this piece of what we have to do. This speculation does not help us with our unions and our people in the development centers,

I have been strapped to the wheel for a long time and this is something that my wife and I have discussed, that Bill and I have discussed, and it's a good time.

Certainly none of us did a good job forecasting what the impact of 9/11 would be on the industry,

I don't think it went wrong. None of us anticipated the aggressive pricing in the marketplace.

I get impatient too but I also don't walk on water.

Greg's respect for his fellow employees and his leadership behaviors are well known and highly regarded throughout the Company. We appreciate his many contributions and will greatly miss his knowledge and insight.

I think the nature of competition in the marketplace is very, very challenging for all of us.

I think we'll see some degree of moderation, but I don't see any backing off to a large degree.

It is a supply issue, and it's supply of several technologies, ... The Japanese have shown a little bit of a predatory approach.

Our people have made excellent progress in South America, stabilized Europe and positioned us for growth in Asia. The challenges in North America require us to give it the attention and resources it deserves. I know the team we've put together can deliver.

Will this be the end-all? It depends on how the world turns,

We hoped to achieve our goals through attrition, reduced hiring and other voluntary means. Despite our best efforts, it became clear that getting to our targets required a number of involuntary separations.

We have the right team for the job at hand and it is time for me to allow them to grow even further and transition into the new roles that await them. It is because of these individuals, and the people they lead, that I leave Ford with confidence in the company's future.

We are working with multiple suppliers and alternatives, ... We recognize that the ramp-up phase is very critical for suppliers and for ourselves to get economies of scale.

We think we're at a reasonable level at this point. We don't have any explosive plan to go out and hack away. We've taken a lot of whacks at that. Right now we're looking to get stability -- stability in our product cycle, stability in our manpower, stability in our plant situation.

We have to be very aggressive in terms of controlling costs,

We had a good plan at the end of 2001, ... We executed it. We achieved everything that was in it and then some. But it wasn't good enough. ... So guess what? Now we have to respond again, and we're going to step up to it.

We will be aggressive. We will address costs. We will address our footprint as a business. We will address capacity.

We're going to be more vocal (about our green efforts). It's not clear to us that we've gotten much credit for the good things that we have done, and we think we ought to start talking about that and get people to recognize it. If some people choose to sit on the sidelines and criticize, then we ought to ask them what they're doing physically to make a difference rather than just talking.

Bill Ford and I have worked hard to develop and assemble the best leadership for the company.

Bill and I have worked closely together in putting together the right team.

The team in North America, led by Mark Fields and supported by Anne Stevens, developed the plan for North America, drawing on their extensive global experience in Asia, Europe and The Americas. They have reenergized the Ford team to make it work, and they have the full support of the Ford Motor Company behind them.

It's time for these younger leaders to show their wares. Bill is going to be much more closely involved.

The closures that are indicated are further out because of those commitments.