Ford

Ford Motor Co. will roll out a feature on many 2010 models that can limit teen drivers to 80 mph, using a computer chip in the key. Parents also have the option of programming the teen's key to limit the audio system's volume and to sound continuous alerts if the driver doesn't wear a seat belt. The feature, called "MyKey," will be standard on some Ford models when the 2010 cars and trucks come out late next summer. The feature will spread to the entire Ford, Lincoln and Mercury lineup as models are updated, spokesman Wes Sherwood said.

The auto maker reported that it now owns 81% of First National Financial Corp.'s stock, which it acquired for $32 a share from National Intergroup. The purchase follows approval from the Federal Home Loan Bank Board. The public shareholders--those owning the remaining 19% of the San Francisco-based financial institution--will now receive $32 for each of their shares, Ford said. The $493-million deal was first announced in August.

Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian sold 26.4 million more Ford Motor Co. shares as he unwinds a $995-million investment in the second-largest U.S. automaker to focus on gambling, hotels and energy. Kerkorian, 91, reduced his holdings to 107.1 million shares, or 4.89%, his Tracinda Corp. said in a regulatory filing. The sales occurred Oct. 21 through Monday at an average of $2.01 a share, Tracinda said. The investor last week reversed course on Ford less than six months after expressing confidence in Chief Executive Alan Mulally's turnaround efforts.

Two items in your July 25 "Briefly" column really stood out: (1) Domestic car and truck sales off, with Ford dropping 18.8%, the most of all; and (2) Ford Motor Co. said the average price of one of its 1991 cars will be $528, or 3.2% higher, and the average light truck price will increase by 3.6%. How they figure that raising prices will increase sales is mystifying. I can only assume that they use the same convoluted logic that the state Lottery used when deciding that decreasing the odds of winning by adding more numbers would increase revenue.

The Ford Motor Co., one of the biggest American companies in South Africa, has agreed to disinvest from the country but will still sell vehicles here, officials said today. Ford has a 42% interest in the South African Motor Corp., known as SAMCOR. The giant U.S. auto maker will donate 24% to SAMCOR employees and sell the remaining 18% to the Anglo American Corp. and its subsidiaries, Anglo said in a statement.

Former President Gerald R. Ford will testify Tuesday in favor of Robert H. Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court, Sen. Strom Thurmond's office announced today. Ford will appear at the opening session of the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings, according to Thurmond, the South Carolina senator who is the ranking Republican on the panel. Former Chief Justice Warren E. Burger also will testify for Bork.

Your article "Ford to Lay Off Another 600 Workers" (Sept. 7), with its accompanying photo by Mark Boster of a worker driving out of the Ford parking lot with his children, evoked memories of Depression photos by James Agee and Walker Evans. In those faces are fear, fatigue, frustration and submerged anger. How can Ford so summarily dump their hourly employees with less than two days' notice while the company receives full payment for all of the Sgt. York weapons--even those they will never build?

Former President Gerald R. Ford, expressing support for President Reagan's proposal to impose drug testing on an estimated 1 million federal employees, said he would take a drug test "under any circumstances at any time." Ford rejected suggestions that tests of federal workers would deny workers due process of law or violate their Fourth Amendment rights. He spoke to reporters before delivering a lecture at the University of Dayton commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Constitution.

Former President Gerald R. Ford can't seem to shake his reputation for clumsiness. He was in the Detroit suburbs Monday to speak at a GOP fund-raiser. When he finished taking questions from reporters, Ford smiled and backed into a low-hanging chandelier. He wasn't hurt, but the incident added to a list of minor accidents ranging from getting knocked over by a chair lift while skiing and hitting a spectator with a golf drive to stumbling on an airplane ramp.

Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian added $100 million to his line of credit to finance his bid to boost his stake in Ford Motor Co., according to a government filing. Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. said it might borrow as much as $600 million from Bank of America Corp., up from a potential loan of $500 million. Kerkorian has offered $8.50 a share for as many as 20 million shares of Ford's common stock, a cash offer worth as much as $170 million. If he succeeds, his stake in the automaker would rise to 5.5% from 4.7%.