Ford liquidity sufficient

By David Bailey and Soyoung Kim

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor's (F.N) restructuring is on track and the automaker has sufficient liquidity to fund the plan, which includes converting plants and investing in future products, company executives said on Wednesday.

Ford, the only U.S. automaker not operating with emergency U.S. government loans, also has continued to consolidate its dealer network, but sees no need for the type of aggressive culling that rivals General Motors GM.N and Chrysler plan, Chief Executive Alan Mulally told reporters.

"Not only do we have sufficient liquidity to finance our plan, but we are staying absolutely on our product transformation," Mulally said.

Mulally said there have been some positive signs on the economy from housing, construction and bank stability, with credit starting to loosen up a little bit, but whether Ford can begin to add jobs would be determined by the economy.

"I think our forecast for things starting to turn in the second half of this year, we are kind of on track for that," he said of the automaker's forecast for U.S. auto industry sales.

Mulally also said Chrysler's bankruptcy has not led to difficulties with parts supplies so far, but the health of the interconnected supply base in the United States is critical to Ford's restructuring.

Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford told reporters the Chrysler plant shutdown for the duration of its reorganization, and GM's plan for broad plant idling this summer posed a risk to the auto parts supply base.

"Obviously we have been doing a lot of planning with our supply base and, in certain cases, we have been helping them through it, but our ability to unilaterally carry the supply base, we can't do it," Bill Ford said. "We clearly need a more comprehensive approach.