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Edsel B. Ford II to Assume New Role at Ford as Consultant

9 April 1998

Edsel B. Ford II to Assume New Role at Ford as Consultant

    DEARBORN, Mich., April 9 -- Edsel B. Ford II, 49, the
president of Ford Credit, will leave his post as head of the financial
services unit to assume a new role as a consultant with the company.
    "I'm at a point in my career, when my age and nearly 25 years of service,
the responsibility of the Ford name, and my father's legacy in Southeast
Michigan community affairs, puts me at a crossroads.  I've examined what
matters most to me, and have decided to change my role with Ford so I can
spend more time on community affairs, and yet keep involved with the company
and its dealers.  I now will have the best of both worlds."
    As of May 1, 1998, he will leave his post at Ford Credit.  He will move to
an office in World Headquarters and will continue to serve on the Ford Board
of Directors and its Finance Committee.  He will join the Board's Organization
Review and Nominating Committee as an outside Board member following his
retirement.
    He also will consult on matters affecting the company's 10,500 dealers and
will be Chairman of the company's Centennial Committee which will direct the
yearlong celebration of the company's Centennial in 2003.  He also will
represent the company in a number of outside activities, and he will join the
Ford Motor Company Fund Board and the company's Corporate Citizenship Advisory
Board.
    In anticipation of this move, he recently accepted two additional
community projects.  Mayor Dennis Archer appointed him to the Coleman A. Young
Memorial Commission.  He also has accepted an appointment to the Wayne County
Airport Commission.  These new appointments are in addition to his current
involvement in 12 other community and non-profit organizations.
    "I respect Edsel's initiative to make this change in his life and to
balance his involvement with the company and his increasing outside
responsibilities," said Alex Trotman, Ford Motor Company chairman and chief
executive officer.  "The company benefits from the opportunity to keep him
involved in Ford in an advisory and ambassadorial role, and the community
benefits with more of his time and talent."
    "Edsel has had a very successful career at Ford, rising from a product
planning analyst in 1974, to president of Ford Credit.  He has made numerous
contributions to the company worldwide and has been a wonderful representative
of the company and his family."
    In 1988, Edsel B. Ford II was elected to the company's Board of Directors.
He was named president of Ford Credit in May 1991 and elected a vice president
of Ford Motor Company on December 9, 1993.
    He is the great-grandson of Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company
.  His grandfather was Edsel B. Ford, company president from 1919 to
1943.  His late father, Henry Ford II, was president of the company from 1945
to 1960 and chairman from 1960 to 1980.

SOURCE  Ford Motor Company