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• Ford Motor Company Design Restructures Ghia SpA
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• Buick To Unveil 2002 Abboud Regal At New York Auto Show
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News of  March 28, 2001

Ford Motor Company Design Restructures Ghia SpA

COLOGNE, Germany – Ford Motor Company Design is announcing the restructuring of Ghia S.p.A., a wholly owned subsidiary located in Turin, Italy. Ghia S.p.A. is being transformed from a traditional Italian coachbuilder to an electronic concept studio, patterned after Volvo’s Barcelona, Spain and Camarillo, Calif. studios.

“As we further define our priorities within the Ford Motor Company global Design organization, we are making changes to the operating structure of our worldwide studios to meet the needs of our portfolio of brands,” said J Mays, Ford Motor Company vice president of Design and Chairman of the Board for Ghia S.p.A. “This is consistent with our quest for efficiency throughout the Ford Motor Company product development enterprise.”

The restructuring of Ghia S.p.A. includes a 95 percent reduction of operating staff, refocusing of the skill mix needed to operate an electronic studio versus a full-service coachbuilder, and the updating of the facility and equipment.

The new operating structure for Ghia S.p.A. has been modeled after the structure of Volvo’s Barcelona and California studios. The Ghia studio will have five design staff working completely on the computer and will be charged with the development of new vehicle proposals, concept vehicles, and themes for high-series model trim levels for the Ford of Europe product line-up. The designers also will be responsible for learning about the customers in their region in order to better serve them through products that are designed to meet their needs.

“It is essential that designers in the Ghia studio develop proposals that draw from the rich culture, diverse needs and unique driving conditions that our Italian customers identify with, while creating Ford products that will appeal to the greater European customer base,” said Mays.

Ghia’s design proposals will be created and refined completely on the computer and then through data transfer to one of the Ford studios – Dunton, England or Cologne, Germany – a hard model will be milled for review and verification. This approach will help streamline the design process reducing vehicle development time and cost.

Ghia S.p.A. will remain in its current location in Turin, Italy through the end of the building lease in 2002. The computing equipment in the current studio will be upgraded to meet the requirements of operating an electronic studio.

Ford Motor Company continues to value the Ghia brand name and rich heritage and will continue to honor and preserve it for the future through the continued development of exciting new designs.

(March 23, 2001)

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