Ford Cutting Production in Venezuela on Growing Dollar Shortage

Ford Motor Co. (F), the second-largest U.S. automaker, is reducing production in Venezuela as the South American country faces a shortage of hard currency. The availability of U.S. dollars “is crimping our ability to pay suppliers,” Chief Operating Officer Mark Fields said yesterday in Detroit. “We’ve taken our production down.” Output fell about 75 percent in the fourth quarter last year from the rate Ford was running in the first three quarters of the year, and the company’s assumption for this year is that output will remain near the fourth-quarter level, he said. More...