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Got this little snippet from http://www.mellor.net/mellor/enews.nsf/edition/$first
They also have a story on the Ford Fiesta.
They also have a story on the Ford Fiesta.
Extinction fear on Raptor
FORD'S vital Raptor 4WD
program will go to the US for
budget approval later this year,
and Mr Polites is nervous about
the reply he might get from
headquarters.
"Hopefully it will get approved,
but at this stage my concern is
we're putting it into an
environment a bit different to
last year — in terms of getting
approval," he said.
"The US economy is tougher,
the Firestone issue is going to
take $4 billion of cash, profits
are going to be lower, so the
environment you're going into
asking for money is a lot
tougher than it would have been
last year or the year before."
Mr Polites said the cost of the
program (about $200 million),
although small in global terms,
would not help Raptor's cause.
Mr Polites also:
Rejected a report on the
Ford-watcher Blue Oval News
web site that the Barra (AV)
Falcon program was exceeding
budgets and could cause some
anxiety in the US: "We've spent
more on engineering than we
planned, but that report's just
not true," he said.
Rejected talk of plans to
import the Focus in the short
term. He said Ford Australia
would reconsider the "C-Car"
situation when the next
generation Focus and Laser
were merged onto the same
platform.