Ford can't keep on truckin'; now neither can we

0 Comments | The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, Norfolk, VA, Apr 19, 2006 | by LISA SUHAY

BY LISA SUHAY

Happiness is a floppy straw hat on a silver-gray head, driving a hunter green Ford F-150 truck, left arm more tan than the right, with a bed full of garden supplies and roadside treasures. That's my happy thought as I pilot my kid-packed white minivan and listen to the radio announce that my truck and dream just become endangered species.

Ford announced it would close its Norfolk plant - one of three makers of the F-150 - in 2008, affecting 2,400 Ford plant workers, thousands of related industry employees and whacking more than $8 million in tax dollars from our little city's budget. I feel like the loved one of a hit-and-run victim.

I have a picture of myself taken at age 25, perched on the hood of my darling, ancient, green Ford pickup. My floppy straw hat with the cabbage rose in the brim is on my head and I am in my glory. When we had our first son, I could not bear to hand the keys to the truck's new owner. My husband had to do it.

In times of strife, kids fighting, old minivan sputtering, I picture myself an old lady reunited with a green Ford pickup, and I smile. All that from a motor vehicle. So it's not just a truck. It's not about being acquisitive, because that was one old truck, too. It's about a feeling, a lifestyle. Marketing people know this, but I didn't get it until now.

That's just me being selfish about my little dream, while others will see their businesses fail, jobs vanish and communities alter. Also, that $8 million in property tax, utilities and other sundry annual revenues from Ford paid for what our city needs to keep on truckin'.

The knee-jerk response is to blame the company for failing and pulling out, but is that really right? Isn't Ford pulled over to the side of the economic road with its emergency flares lit, asking for our help? They're not sitting there alone. The road may be dark, but not lonely. You could line the highways with "in-the-red" lights if you lit one for every American auto worker whose job is in danger today.

We all knew Ford was in crisis; still, the announcement of the closure was a shock because Ford recently spent $400 million for improvements to this plant. This is, after all, the assembly plant that once built the Model T and has survived more than 80 years of giddy ups and downs in the auto industry. We thought we were safe, but nobody's dreams are safe in this economy.

Norfolk isn't a typical factory town where everything revolves around the plant, but a lot was riding on those trucks. It isn't just the plant workers and truck lovers who will suffer. Ford ranks No. 24 among the Hampton Roads area's largest employers. These are big dominos tipping over, including: Siemens in Newport News, which makes fuel injectors; TRW Automotive Systems in Hampton, which makes navigation tools; Valeo Transmissions USA in Hampton, which makes power transmissions, and Vogel Lubrication Systems in Newport News.

In all, 17 companies in Hampton Roads, employing more than 2,500 people, supply parts for Ford trucks built in Norfolk.

Ford says it's seeking to restructure its North American business to return to profitability. Apparently, negatives included the Norfolk plant's distance from major Midwest suppliers and the fact that it produced only the F-150 - also known as My Truck.

Maybe that's the problem ... marketing. America stopped seeing Ford as Our Truck.

Was it the war and years of tax breaks for buying Hummers? When it comes to David and Goliath, people still bet on the big guy. Good, useful, solid, dependable trucks can't compete with the sexy, powerful images of war on wheels when it comes to buyers. We fell out of love with war too late to help the truck makers, and the gas crunch slew Goliath.

Slogans won't help either of them in the long run. For the record, the current Ford slogan is "A better idea. Driven by you," while Hummer's is "Like nothing else on Earth."

However, the Ford slogan I always liked best was "Built stronger to last longer." I wish we could say the same about the Norfolk plant and the American economy as we watch the automobile industry pile up on America's shoulders.

Still, I'll hold on to my little dream. Being only 41, and having another 16 years before my youngest son leaves the nest, I'll have to rely on the soundness of Ford trucks, the veracity of their slogan and hope that at least the market for used vehicles outlasts it all.

* Lisa Suhay works at Old Dominion University in Norfolk and is the author of children's books. E-mail her at suhays@cox.net.

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