Bill Ford, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer 

F O R 

## A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN 

F ord Motor Company is moving forward fast. We’ve made substantial financial and operational progress over the past three years. During that period, we accelerated our flow of new products to the market, created ongoing efficiencies in our cost structure and business processes, and improved our cash flow. Our pre-tax profit, excluding special items, improved by more than $7 billion.* 

We are determined to build on the progress we’ve made. In the short term, that means meeting the challenges of a difficult operating environment. Longer term, it means leveraging our unique strengths to differentiate ourselves in a fiercely competitive global industry. 

• Cost reductions of almost $900 million. In total, we improved our automotive cost performance by more than $4 billion over the last two years.*** 

• Improved per-unit revenue of $745 in North America, along with improved residual values. 

• Market share increases in Europe, South America and Asia. 

## The Year Ahead 

Even with the positive momentum these accomplishments have given us, meeting our targets for 2005 will be a challenge. Our quality continued to improve last year, 

Our efforts to move forward will benefit from our achievements in 2004. Those included: 

• A pre-tax profit, excluding special items, of $5.8 billion, compared to $3.4 billion in 2003.** 

