
A big verdict on a big truck, with litigation in a costly matter likely to drag on for years.
Ford Motor Company says that it will appeal a $2 billion ruling against it by an Ohio judge in a class action lawsuit by Ford dealers. The judge found that Ford overcharged its truck dealers for 11 years on sales of almost 500,000 trucks. Ford apparently did not inform all dealers equally of discounts available. The judge called them hidden discounts.
The lawsuit class includes all Ford dealers who bought from Ford any F600 or higher series truck during a period of 11 years, starting in 1987. The court granted the dealers’ motion for summary judgment on liability.
The settlement potentially delays Ford’s return to investment grade ratings because it adds a couple of billion dollars to the $16.6 billion Ford owes. As a result of the huge debt rating agencies currently have Ford bonds graded as junk. In an analyst presentation last week before the decision Ford said “it expects to achieve investment grade in the near-term, and to resume paying dividends at an appropriate level of after-tax earnings.”
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
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