Ford to Pay Out Health Care Fund;

Ford has done will for the first two quarters of 2010, but it has recently decided to make a major payment to a health care fund for UAW benefits. Other automakers such as Detroit Chevrolet and Chrysler have had to negotiate with the UAW for medical and other benefits as well. Foreign automakers such as Toyota and Volkswagen, whose models can be found at a Peoria Volkswgen Dealer, generally do not deal with the UAW. As for Toyota, recently Toyota Deals have been offered to boost sales after negative publicity.

The United Auto Workers Retiree Medical Benefits Trust is a division of the UAW that ensures retired workers are guaranteed medical benefits. The company will pay $859 million in its own stock in order to pay for the benefits which were agreed upon in a deal last year. Today, Ford's stock fell 55 cents which is 5.3 percent to $9.88 per share. The U.S. auto marker has been moving slowly over the past year, although Ford has still managed to make strides in sale, especially with their Mustang model which outsold the Camaro for the first time in many years last May.

Investors say that because Ford has decided to use stock instead of cash to pay for the retiree benefits, that it may be a sign of a weakness in the shares which may be an affect of the lagging U.S. automobile market. If Ford chose to pay in cash, it may have been a sign that the company anticipates their stock to rise in upcoming months.

However, even with a stock payment, Ford stocks could rise since investors will not have to deal with having less liquid funds available. The cash could be used to reduce debt or for other purposes by the company. Ford will hopes to continue its sales progress for 2010 and anticipates growth in several of its market shares.

Ford Awarded "Business Turnaround of the Year"

At the 2010 American Business Awards, Ford won the award for "Business Turnaround of the Year for Companies with More Than 2,500 Employees." The awards were held last Monday at the Marriott Marquis Hotel. Ford is being commended for its business progress, and for Ford Specials that have contributed to increased sales for 2009. The awards are held annually and several thousands of businesses such as Coastal Pawn Shop apply for the awards which are given out in 40 categories.

The award recognized the progress that Ford made in 2009. Ford has done well in spite of recession problems throughout the world's economies for 2009. Ford improved by an astounding $17.5 billion in sales compared to 2008, and had its first year of positive net income since 2005.

Other accomplishments include increasing their market share for the first time in 14 years. There were over 2,700 entries to the awards and over 200 judges were involved in deciding the winner. The judges are select executives from around the United States. There are 40 categories of awards and some of the categories include customer service, information technology, human resources, sales, and several others.

The award is called a "Stevie" and the awards have been held annually since 2002. The purpose of the awards is to recognize business progress and commend those businesses that have proven themselves as standouts in different areas and for those such as Ford that have made progress despite difficult odds.

Ford was the only one out of the Big Three that did not declare bankruptcy in 2009. Ford has made extensive efforts to improve their product offerings and they have paid off. Another recent award from Ford was becoming the top non-luxury automaker with the fewest initial vehicle defects for 2009. Ford has made many improvements over 2009 and hopes to continue their progress with several new models that are fuel efficient, hybrid, and highly anticipated.