Ford Hands Out Profit-Sharing Checks to Workers Nationwide; $6,700 Average

    EDISON, N.J., March 7 More than 103,000
Ford Motor Company [NYSE:F] hourly employees across America received
profit-sharing checks today, with the average payout coming to $6,700.
    Workers at Ford's Edison Assembly Plant received checks for the work they
performed in 2000 making America's best-selling compact pickup truck, the Ford
Ranger, as well as the Mazda B-series pickup and bodies for the Ranger EV
electric vehicle.
    "Ford workers around the nation are receiving $733 million today -- the
second-highest payout in the 18-year history of our profit-sharing program,"
said Edison Plant Manager Robert Webber, who helped hand out checks totaling
more than $10 million to local workers.
    "Our employees worked hard for this day, but our customers are true
beneficiaries of this program, too," Webber said.  "They are the ones who
drive these award-winning trucks, built by highly skilled and motivated
workers."
    Ford has more than 103,000 hourly workers in the United States.  Because
of retirements and new hires during 2000, the number of people receiving
checks today was about 110,000.
    The record average check at Ford was $8,000 for 1999, which was paid last
year.  The average payments for each year, when added together over the
18 years, come to $47,275.
    Ford's Profit Sharing Program was negotiated by Ford and the UAW in 1982.
It is designed to reward workers based on the sales and profits of Ford's U.S.
operations, excluding certain non-automotive subsidiaries.  Individual sums
are based on the amount of pay earned by each worker during a calendar year,
which means that pay scales and overtime are figured in.  In three of the
18 years, no money was paid out.
    Of the more than 103,000 active U.S. hourly workers on the rolls at the
end of last year, 79,000 work at Ford sites and 24,000 are hourly Ford
employees working at Visteon Corp. [NYSE: VC] in the United States.

    Here is a list of average Ford profit-sharing payments, by year:
    2000 (distributed today):  $6,700
    1999:                      $8,000
    1998:                      $6,100
    1997:                      $4,400
    1996:                      $1,800
    1995:                      $1,700
    1994:                      $4,000
    1993:                      $1,350
    1992, 1991 and 1990:            0
    1989:                      $1,025
    1988:                      $2,800
    1987:                      $3,700
    1986:                      $2,100
    1985:                      $1,200
    1984:                      $2,000
    1983:                        $400