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Ford Announces Profit Sharing

4 March 1998

Ford Employees Earn Record Profit Sharing

    LOUISVILLE, Ky., March 4 -- More than 7,300 eligible Ford
Motor Company employees received record profit sharing checks today
at the company's two truck plants here.  The payouts could represent a
considerable "boost" to Louisville's economy.
    The average amount of the profit sharing checks is $4,400, distributed to
approximately 3,490 Louisville Assembly Plant (LAP) employees and 3,900
Kentucky Truck Plant (KTP) employees.
    Al Ver, manager - Ford Vehicle Operations, traveled from Detroit to join
LAP Plant Manager Bob Kurtz in passing out checks and thanking employees for
their efforts.  Ver is responsible for overseeing the operations of 28
automotive stamping and assembly plants in Australia, Canada, England, Mexico
and the United States.
    "You should be very proud of these record achievements.  Thank you for
your dedication," said Ver.  "Employees at Ford's two Louisville-area plants
played an important role in the company's 1997 financial performance."
    LAP employees build the Ford Ranger compact pickup truck and Ford Explorer
and Mercury Mountaineer sport utility vehicles.  Ranger is America's best-
selling compact pickup truck and Explorer is its best-selling sport utility
vehicle.
    LAP is located on Fern Valley Road in Louisville.
    Across town, on Chamberlain Lane, employees build the all-new, 1999-model
Super Duty F-Series truck.
    KTP is scheduled to start 3-crew operations this spring to increase
production of the Super Duty F-Series.  F-Series is North America's best-
selling vehicle -- car or truck.
    Ford Motor Company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alex Trotman
announced record profit sharing for 1997 on January 27.
    "To me, the best news of 1997 was our improvement in quality," he said.
"We showed the greatest improvement of any manufacturer.  We also showed very
clearly that quality can improve while costs go down."
    Since Ford began paying profit sharing in 1984, employees will have
received an average of more than $26,475.  Today's checks represent the 12th
payment under the Profit Sharing Plan first agreed to by the UAW and Ford in
1982.

SOURCE  Ford Motor Company