Ford Prepares Profit-Sharing Cheques

Friday, January 19th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) â€” Ford Motor Co. said Friday its profit-sharing checks to its 79,000 U.S. hourly workers for the year 2000 will average $6,700, the second-highest amount in the automaker's history despite weaker North American vehicle sales.

The No. 2 automaker also will issue profit-sharing checks averaging that amount to Visteon Corp.'s 24,000 U.S. hourly workers, even though the auto parts maker was spun off from Ford last year, Ford spokesman Ed Miller said.

Bonuses for 1999 averaged $8,000, a record in Ford's 18 years of profit sharing. Ford did not issue bonuses for 1990 through 1992.

The latest bonuses are ``testimony to the strength of our team at Ford â€” a team that delivers in good times and in challenging times,'' Jacques Nasser, Ford's president and chief executive, said in a statement Friday.

The checks will be distributed nationwide on March 7, Ford said.

General Motors Corp. said Wednesday its hourly employees would get profit-sharing payments averaging $800. Bonuses at DaimlerChrysler AG, which lost an estimated $1.76 billion over the last six months of 2000, were expected to be negligible, The Detroit News reported.

Money that goes into Ford's profit-sharing plan is based on profits and sales of the automaker's U.S. operations, excluding certain non-automotive subsidiaries.

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On the Net:

http://www.ford.com