In This Article:
Ford Motor Company (F)
May 10, 2012 8:30 am ET
Executives
William Clay Ford - Executive Chairman, Chairman of Finance Committee and Member of Sustainability Committee
Bradley Gayton - Corporate Secretary and Assistant General Counsel
Unknown Executive -
Alan R. Mulally - Chief Executive Officer, President, Executive Director and Member of Finance Committee
Robert L. Shanks - Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer and Chairman of Global Risk Management Committee
William Clay Ford
Well, good morning, and welcome, everyone. I'm Bill Ford, Chairman of your Board of Directors, and it's my privilege to call to order our 57th Annual Meeting of Shareholders. I want to welcome the shareholders who have joined us in Wilmington, as well as those listening on the Internet and on the Investor phone bridge. I'm really glad you all could be here. Thank you.
At this time, what I'd like to do is just introduced the officers that are with me on stage. On my right, not that he needs any introduction, is Alan Mulally, President and CEO and a member of the Board of Directors; on Alan's right is Bob Shanks, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and on my left is Bradley Gayton, our Corporate Secretary. And this -- I'd like to welcome both Bob and Bradley, because it's both of their first annual meeting. So welcome to both of you. And next to Bradley is David Leitch, group Vice President and General Counsel.
And also in addition to Alan and me, the other nominees for the Board of Directors are with us today, and they're all seated in the front row. And I'd like to thank the board for all their efforts on our behalf.
Okay. So now let's take care of the business of the meeting. The agenda was given out if you came in this morning, and I'd like to follow it so that as many shareholders as possible have the opportunity to speak.
So let's start with the matters to be voted on today. Once these matters have been presented, I'll open the polls for voting. And when those of you who wish to vote in person have turned in your ballots, the polls will be closed.
And after we completed the voting, I'll report on the state of our business and Alan will outline for you our ONE Ford plan to continue moving the company forward. And after Alan's remarks, I'll open the meeting for general discussion, including any questions that you might have. If you have any questions or comments, there are 2 mics you can see them, 1 and 2, and in all cases, the microphone attendant will introduce you.
Now I want to give as many people as possible a chance to speak. So anybody who has a question or a comment during the presentation of the proposal will be limited to 1 question or comment and 2 minutes of speaking time. Shareholders who have proposals in our proxy statement will be given 3 minutes to speak in support of their proposal. Also, any individual shareholder will be limited to 6 total minutes of speaking time. In addition, when speaking, the shareholders are going to hear this tone when their time is up. At which point, you should immediately conclude your remarks.
Officers of Computershare Trust Company have been appointed as inspectors of election for this meeting. And after we finished discussing the matters to be voted on, those of you who want to vote your shares at this meeting can do so using the ballots that we distributed when you arrived.
Okay. So now let's get to the proposals. Proposal 1. The first item we voted on is the election of directors. The 16 directors who've been designated by the Board of Directors as candidates for election are shown on the proxy statement. They're all members of the current board. Bradley, will you make the nomination?
Bradley Gayton
Certainly. I nominate as directors the nominees named in our proxy statement.
William Clay Ford
Thank you. Any other nominations?
Okay. If there are no other nominations, I declare the nominations closed. Is there anyone who would like to discuss nominations? Yes?
Unknown Executive
Mr. Chairman, I would like to introduce Mr. Hesse [ph] from -- a shareholder from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, who wishes to comment on this proposal.
William Clay Ford
Good morning, Mr. Hesse.
Unknown Shareholder
Good morning. I'd like to speak in favor of election of the Board of Directors. They have provided in the past, and I hope will continue to provide, outstanding counsel, together with the officers who have provided outstanding leadership to the Ford Motor Company.
I'd like to formally welcome Jon Huntsman to the board, if this is his first meeting. And it will be a super pleasure to watch him and Richard Gephardt work together, because they're on different parts of the political spectrum.
I think we can all learn a lot from the leadership of Ford, if not only individually, but as a country, how we can better work together. So I thank you all for your outstanding leadership.
William Clay Ford
Thank you very much. Thank you. That was very nice, thanks.
Okay. Let's move on to Proposal 2. It's the ratifying the selection by the Audit Committee of PricewaterhouseCoopers as independent registered public -- as the independent registered public accounting firm to audit the company's books for 2012.
And joining us today is Sharad Jain, PWC's 2012 global audit engagement partner. Mr. Jain, will you please stand? Thank you very much. Thank you.
Now Bradley, will you please vote proposal 2?
Bradley Gayton
Of course. I move the adoption of a resolution on the proxy statement relating to the ratifying and the selection of the independent registered public accounting firm.
William Clay Ford
Okay, thanks. The board recommends a vote for this proposal. Is there any discussion regarding the motion or any question for the auditors?
Okay. Thank you. We'll move on to Proposal 3, which relates to a shareholder advisory vote to approve the compensation of named executives as disclosed in the proxy. We think they closely align the interest of our executives with yours. Our compensation programs are designed to award executives for the achievement of short- and long-term strategic and operational goal while avoiding unnecessary or excessive risk taking. Our more detailed reasons in support of this proposal are set out in our proxy statement.
Bradley, will you please move Proposal 3?
Bradley Gayton
Yes, Mr. Chairman. I move the adoption of the resolution in the proxy statement related to the approval on an advisory basis of the compensation of named executives as disclosed in the company's proxy statement.
William Clay Ford
Thank you, Bradley. The Board of Directors recommend a vote for the proposal. Is there any discussion regarding this?
Okay. We now move onto Proposal 4, which was submitted by Mrs. Evelyn Y. Davis. It recommends that the company adopt cumulative voting for the election of directors.
We don't believe the proposal results in any appreciable benefit to shareholders for the reasons set out in our proxy statement. And accordingly, the Board of Directors recommends a vote against Proposal 4.
So Mrs. Davis is unable to be here today and she asked that I place the proposal before the meeting so that it can be acted upon. So accordingly, on behalf of Mrs. Davis, I'm placing this proposal before the meeting. Is there any discussion regarding this motion?
Okay. We'll now move to Proposal 5, which requests that the board take steps to adopt a recapitalization plan to provide for all the company stock to have 1 vote per share.
The board recommends a vote against Proposal 5 for the reasons set out in our proxy statement, and the proposal may be presented at this time. Yes, microphone number one.
Unknown Executive
Mr. Chairman, I would like to introduce Mr. Rockell [ph], a shareholder from Wilmington, Delaware, who wishes to comment on this proposal.
William Clay Ford
Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Rockell.
Unknown Shareholder
Good morning. Thank you. I'm actually speaking on behalf of Ray T. Chevedden and Veronica G. Chevedden Family Trust in Los Angeles, and the prepared statement is as follows.
Shareholders request that our board take steps to adopt a recapitalization plan for all Ford's outstanding stock to have one vote per share. This would include all predictable steps, including encouragement and negotiation with Ford family shareholders to request that they relinquish, for the common good of all shareholders, any preexisting rights.
This proposal allows our board's judgment in crafting requested change in accordance with applicable laws and existing contracts. Ford family shares are allowed 16 votes per share compared to the 1 vote per share for regular shareholders. This dual-class voting stock reduces accountability by allowing corporate control to be retained by insiders disproportionately to their money at risk.
In 2011, this proposal topic won the all-time highest support for any Ford shareholder proposal, more than 1.4 billion votes. This proposal topic is also believed to have received more than 50% of the independent vote of the non-family stock.
Dual-class stock companies like Ford has shareholder money, but do not let shareholders have an equal voice in their company's management. Without a voice, shareholders cannot hold management accountable. It is time that this 56-year practice be changed for the common benefit of all shareholders.
Please encourage our board to respond positively to this proposal. Give each share an equal vote. Thank you.
William Clay Ford
Thank you very much.
Okay. Let's move onto Proposal 6, which requests that the company's bylaws or other governing documents be amended to permit holders of 10% of common stock to call special shareholder meeting.
The Board of Directors recommends a vote against Proposal 6 for the reasons set forth on our proxy. That -- the proposal may be presented at this time.
Unknown Executive
Mr. Chairman, I'd like to reintroduce Mr. Rockell, a shareholder from Wilmington, Delaware, who wishes to comment on this proposal.
William Clay Ford
Thank you.
Unknown Shareholder
Hello, again.
William Clay Ford
Hi.
Unknown Shareholder
So this time, I'm speaking on behalf of John Chevedden Sheridan of Redondo Beach, California, and he -- the prepared statement is as follows.
Shareowners asked our board to take the steps necessary unilaterally, to the fullest extent permitted by law, to amend our bylaws in each appropriate governing document to give holders of 10% of our outstanding common stock the power to call a special shareowner meeting. This includes that such bylaw and/or charter text will not have any exclusionary or prohibitive language in regard to calling a special meeting that apply only to shareowners but not to management and/or the board to the fullest extent permitted by law.
Special meetings allow shareowners to vote on important matters, such as electing new directors that can arise between annual meetings. Shareowner input on the timing of shareowner meetings is especially important when events unfold quickly and issues may become moot by the next annual meeting. This proposal topic won more than 60% support at CVS Caremark, Sprint and Safeway.
Please encourage our board to respond positively to this proposal to initiate improved corporate governance. Thank you.
William Clay Ford
Thank you very much.
Okay. Well, we've covered each of the proposals listed on the proxy statement, so we could move on to the voting. And the polls are now open.
If you mailed in a proxy or if you voted over the phone or by Internet, you don't need to vote here unless you wish to change your vote. To vote your shares here at the meeting, please use the ballot that was given to you when you arrived. If you don't have a ballot, please raise your hand and an usher will give you one. And the ushers also have pencils for those who need one, need a pencil. Anyone who would like a ballot or pencil and doesn't have one, keep your hand up so the ushers can get one to you.
If you wish to vote against a particular nominee, you should cross out that name on the ballot. If you wish to vote for a nominee whose name does not appear on the ballot, you should cross out one of the other nominees and insert the name of yours. Please cast your ballots now and hand them to the usher. If you hold shares in street name, please submit your legal proxy, along with your ballot, so that your votes can be counted.
[Voting]
Is there anyone who hasn't cast a ballot or a ballot hasn't been collected yet?
Okay. Are we all set? Thank you. Okay. Great. Thanks. So now I declare the polls closed. I want to thank everyone who presented or discussed a proposal this morning.
And now I'd like to report on the state of our business. Your company is doing well these days. In 2011, we completed our third year in a row of improved annual operating profits. We also had our highest worldwide sales volume in 4 years. In March of this year, we resumed paying quarterly dividend for the first time in 5 years. We're pleased with these results, and we plan to go further to meet the needs of our customers, the challenges of our industries and the issues confronting our world.
Today, we face ongoing economic uncertainty, rising fuel and commodity costs and the need to reduce CO2 emissions. Looking further ahead, growing sales volumes, particularly in developing markets, are raising concerns about traffic congestion in major cities. We plan to meet these challenges head on with best-in-class vehicles that lead in quality, fuel efficiency, safety, smart design and value.
We now offer advanced fuel-saving technologies across a full line of vehicles, as well as a variety of electrified vehicles. This year, nearly 1/3 of our U.S. vehicle sales -- of vehicle lines will include a model that achieve 40 miles per gallon. Next year, we're going to triple our production of capacity for our electrified vehicles in North America.
We're also intensifying our efforts to develop vehicles that communicate with each other and with the world around them to improve safety and reduce traffic congestion. Now we entered the wireless communications arena in 2007 with our SYNC systems, which was developed in a partnership with Microsoft. And earlier this year, we delivered our 4 millionth vehicle equipped with SYNC. And as we did to address concerns about sustainability, we're developing a plan that will direct our future efforts and investments in this area, so we'll continue to be the leader in wireless communication technology.
Overall industry sales volumes are expected to grow worldwide in the coming year. By continuing to introduce great products at a rapid pace, we will maintain our strong performance in this growing market.
We'll also continue our efforts to improve our cost structure and strengthen our balance sheet. The combination of higher sales volumes and a lean cost structure should enable us to maintain our strong financial performance. This will allow us to continue providing profitable growth for all of our stakeholders. And once again, I want to thank you, our shareholders, for your continued support.
I also want to thank the Ford family for their continued support. They played a critical role in our success.
And on behalf of our stockholders, my family and myself, I want to thank the Ford employees around the world for the truly outstanding job that they're doing. Working together as a global team, they're building great products, a strong business and a better world.
Now our great team is led by a great leader. He got us to where we are today and is eager to go further. To describe our plan and progress in more detail, I'd like to turn the mic over to Alan.
Alan R. Mulally
Thank you so much, Bill, and good morning to each of you. I am pleased to report that our business is strong and is growing profitably. Our full year pretax operating profit for 2011 was $8.8 billion or $1.51 per share, an increase of $463 million from a year ago. It was our third year in a row of improved operating results and our most profitable year since 1998.
In North America, we had a pretax operating profit of $6.2 billion in 2011, an increase of $800 million over 2010. Ford Credit's pretax operating profit of $2.4 billion also made a significant contribution to our full year results. The strong results from these 2 operations offset challenges in other parts of the world.
In 2011, we signed a 4-year agreement with United Auto Workers to help us improve our global competitiveness. As a result, we are now making substantial investments and adding new jobs at our U.S. manufacturing facilities.
Because of our continuous improvement, we are also able to reinstate quarterly dividend payments to our shareholders for the first time since 2006. Restoring the dividend is proof of our progress in achieving profitable growth for all of our stakeholders.
We ended the year with $32.4 billion in total automotive liquidity, Automotive debt was $13.1 billion, a reduction of over $6 billion for the year. Automotive gross cash was $22.9 billion, exceeding debt by $9.8 billion, which was an improvement of $8.4 billion.
Our momentum continues in 2012. Our first quarter net income was $1.4 billion, a $0.35 per share. Despite a challenging global external environment, our team delivered a solid performance during the quarter, with particularly strong results in North America.
We are pleased with what we have accomplished, but as Bill said, we plan to go further. We will continue to follow our ONE Ford plan, aggressively restructure to operate profitably at the current demand and a changing model mix, accelerating the development of new products our customers really do want and value, financing our plan to continually improving our balance sheet and working together effectively as one team, leveraging our global asset.
But we are no longer turning around, we are moving ahead. We are a growing company operating in a rapidly expanding global automotive market. Our growth will be driven by exciting new products. In 2011, new products helped us achieve our third consecutive year of higher market share in United States. We also had higher market share in Asia Pacific and Africa and 3 consecutive quarters of year-over-year share gains in Europe.
The rapid pace of our new product introductions around the world will continue in 2012. New vehicle launches this year include the Ford Fusion and Escape in North America, the EcoSport in South America and the B-MAX, Mondeo and the Kuga in Europe. We will continue to focus on quality improvements in our vehicles worldwide.
We expect full year U.S. industry sales to be in the range of 14.5 million to 15 million vehicles as the economy continues to improve. Full year industry results in Europe should be about 14 million vehicles. Overall, we expect global industry sales to be about 80 million vehicles, up about 5% from 2011. Our strong sales performance will continue in 2012, but the significantly stronger overall industry in the U.S. will make it a challenge for us to equal our full year market share of last year.
Despite continuing economic uncertainty, the global automotive market is rapidly expanding. Industry-wide vehicle sales are expected to rise significantly in the next few years, driven by the accelerated expansion and developing markets, recovery in the mature markets and sales of smaller and more fuel-efficient vehicles. We are increasing our product investments to meet this rising demand. At the same time, we are rapidly expanding our productions facilities in global growth markets such as China, India and Russia.
We expect our sales to increase to about 8 million units by mid-decade, up about 50% from the 5.3 million units in 2010. Because of significant growth in the region, by 2020, nearly 1/3 of our sales would come from the Asia Pacific and Africa region, more than doubling the current percentage of global sales volume we achieved in this region.
In addition to driving profitable growth worldwide, our investments in new products will help us make significant progress on issues that impact the world around us, including fuel economy and CO2 emissions. We are committed to making all of our new vehicles best in class for fuel economy in each of their segments. We continue to introduce fuel-saving technologies across a wide range of vehicles, and we are strongly committed to growing our family of electrified vehicles, as Bill mentioned.
We also continue to build on our leadership position in vehicle communications and connectivity. SYNC and Mike Rowe are helping us deliver information and entertainment in a smarter, safer, more convenient and more useful ways. Developing new ways to safely integrate communications technologies into the driving experience is a top priority for us at Ford.
There are challenges ahead of us, but there are also great opportunities as well. We're accelerating our efforts to fully realize the global scale and the operating margin benefits of our ONE Ford plan. Leveraging our global assets will help us deliver best-in-class products around the world, and leveraging our global assets will help us to deliver to a rapidly growing -- global automotive market. This will drive profitable growth for all of us.
This year, we expect to deliver improved automotive pretax operating profits, strong operating-related cash flow and solid Ford Credit profits. Overall, our pretax operating profits, excluding special items, should be about equal to 2011's strong level.
We are working together as a global team to build great products, a strong business and continue to contribute to the better world. As always, we deeply appreciate your support. Thank you very much.
William Clay Ford
Well, thank you, Alan, and thank you, once again, for your incredible leadership over these past few years.
So at this point, what I'd like to do is open the meeting up for general discussion and questions. Just had a couple of ground rules. Please limit your questions to matters that relate to the business of the company. If you have personal issues related to employment or products or service issues, we have people here who can help you in the lobby, and I appreciate if you could take those personnel matters up with the people out there.
If the questions or comments are irrelevant or you don't conclude your remarks promptly upon hearing the tone, I'll interrupt, if necessary, so we can keep things moving along.
Please go to the nearest microphone. The attendant will introduce you, and all questions should be addressed to me. So microphone number two, I can see you're ready to go, I think.
Question-and-Answer Session
Unknown Executive
Mr. Chairman, I would like to introduce to you Mr. Naraine, a shareholder from Toronto, Canada, who has a question on salary inequity?
Michael Naraine
My name is Mike Naraine. I'm from Toronto, Canada. In support, I've got preliminary question to the question. What are the names of the 2 new members on today's panel?
William Clay Ford
The 2 new members of today's panel.
Alan R. Mulally
We have Bob Shanks, our Chief Financial Officer, and Bradley Gayton, who's our Corporate Secretary.
Michael Naraine
I want to welcome both members to today's panel. Now my question. Mr. Ford, does the Ford Motor Company have a policy which addresses salary inequity at the Ford Windsor operations?
William Clay Ford
Mr. Naraine, we have very careful procedures for determining our compensation for our employees at all of our operations, trying to remain competitive in those operations.
Michael Naraine
I'll tell you why I asked that question. It arises from my response from the Director of Personnel Relations and Employment Planning. You recall last year, Mr. Ford, you asked me or you requested that I leave a copy of my letter to you, and I think it eventually went to the director.
William Clay Ford
Yes.
Michael Naraine
Now if I may be permitted. I want to read to you the response from that Director and this would just take a few seconds. Would that be okay?
William Clay Ford
If you can move it along, it would be great.
Michael Naraine
Yes. The Director says, the Pay Equity Act that I cited is to promote gender equality. And I want to know gender equality there and does not apply to the allegations, again, to note, allegations, of discrimination based on race, such as I have raised and that's referring to the letter. Now with due respect, that response from the Director is contrary to equality rights law. The Pay Equity Act predates Title VII. Mr. Ford, I want to make a request. Could you order an internal investigation into this equity complaint?
William Clay Ford
Mr. Naraine, if you have an issue, which you clearly do, I would ask you to, again, submit it in writing. And if I -- Mr. Leitch, our Chief Legal Officer, would be glad to look into it. And that's how I will handle it.
Michael Naraine
I'm a little bit slow in picking up the instruction, so do I address it to Mr...
William Clay Ford
You could address it to me, you could address it to Mr. Leitch, how ever you want to it. But yes, we will take care of it.
Michael Naraine
I couldn't have asked for more.
Unknown Executive
Mr. Chairman, I would like to introduce Ms. Garcia, shareholder from Detroit, Michigan, who has some remarks on the company.
Jane Garcia
Buenos dias, Mr. Chairman, Mr. President, my friends on the Board of Directors, who I really respect for all that you give back to the community. Diversity is something that Ford did first. I believe that and I always say that, and I always want to make sure that you know how much we appreciate it from a community that has been struggling for a while and stockholders that I had to fight to get inside. It was really nice to come here. They always say that you come here and you'll feel so welcome and you do. And I wanted to make sure that you know how grateful we are that you paid your fair share of taxes, more so than a lot of companies that were being protested, but I think that because you show the example that giving back -- you became a global company, but you did not forget about the community that we serve. And that's very important, whether it's Lahser, whether it's the Samaritan Center on the East Side, where they have no services, whether it's Metro Detroit. Jim Vella is very involve, and I love the fact that he cares so much, because it shows the example to the community. So I stand before you today, not complaining, always making sure that you know how grateful we are that you put the car company that put America to middle class continues to be there, to service this very country. And I just want to make sure that we continue to go on record to say muchisimas gracias.
William Clay Ford
So thank you. Thank you, Ms. Garcia, or to you, as I call you Jane. Those of you who don't know her, she is incredible in our community. There's almost nothing that goes on in the city of Detroit where people need help that Jane Garcia doesn't -- not only show up to play a leadership role. And then she's -- to say she's a human dynamo would be a bit of an understatement. So actually, we should be the one thanking you on behalf of all you do for the city of Detroit. It's actually incredible. So thank you.
Unknown Executive
Mr. Chairman, I would like to introduce Mrs. Smith, our shareholder from Cleveland, Ohio, would like to thank you.
Janice Smith
I like to speak on diversity. I think it goes all the way back to your great-great-grandfather. My mother taught me about diversity as Ford Motor Company before -- I worked at Ford Motor Company. I keep up my first car. It was a Maverick. I hope I can get through with this. And she respect the company. My name is Janice Smith, and I'm a 4-year retiree of Ford Motor Company Cleveland, Ohio. I am here to talk about gratitude. My gratitude for my wonderful career with the company and what I still I can do to repay that gratitude. I feel that I have some ideas and some strength. I can strengthen your bond with the consumers. At a recent time in Ford history, the company wasn't doing so well. We're seeing you all disappeared on national television and with the consumers in purchasing their products. I would love to see those CEOs return to national television and thank all their consumers and employees all over the world for their efforts in bringing Ford back. I would also like to thank -- I would also like to talk about some missing opportunity. It was years ago, Oprah Winfrey was driving your car, driving your car. Millions of potential customers saw this, and I think this was a perfect time for the company to capitalize on this opportunity. That is just one of the examples of the many ideas. I like to help to bring Ford back to its forefront. I think outside the box. I'm coming to you with this and many more fresh new ideas, and I would love to work with Ford Motor Company again on a better capacity. I would love to also see that big over office building and share some of my many ideas with you. Shall I leave my cover letter here with someone?
William Clay Ford
Yes, please, please do. And we'll make sure that it's collected and be brought up to us. I mean, it's -- Mrs. Smith is very typical of a lot of our employees who love this company and want to help and have great ideas to move us forward. And I think it's what makes our company special. It's not just the employees. It's the retirees. And Alan and I get lots of e-mails, lots of letters from people who love Ford and just want to see us do better. So thank you so much Mrs. Smith. I really appreciate it. We thank you.
Unknown Executive
Yes. Mr. Chairman, I would like to introduce Mr. Johnson [ph], a shareholder from Washington, D.C. who has a question about the book American Icon.
Unknown Shareholder
Mr. Chairman. Although I don't have a prepared statement, I am holding in my hand an article that was issued Monday, May 7 in Barron's about a book, and she mentioned called American Idol -- American Icon or -- the Ford Motor Company. And my question to the Board is would it be willing to support a proposal to provide shareholders who may request a copy of it -- of that book?
William Clay Ford
It is a good book. I actually don't think we're going -- we haven't bought a bunch of them just because we don't do that. We don't -- there have been a number of books written about Ford. And if we bought a whole bunch every time a book came out, you, our shareholders, will be mad at us. So -- but it's -- I do think it's -- it pretty well represents what went on during that time. And I know if you send it to Mr. Mulally, he'll be glad to autograph it for you. But -- so anyway, but I think that's our answer, but thank you very much.
Unknown Executive
Mr. Chairman, I would like to introduce Mr. DeFazio [ph] , a shareholder from Tuscon, Arizona, who has a question on the contract for New York City taxi.
Unknown Shareholder
Mr. Director, Mr. Alan Mulally. I do have a question here, 2 questions actually. But 1 here about the New York taxicab that has been obtained, I guess, by a Japanese company who's going provide the cabs. There'll be 13,000 cabs. I was wondering why Ford was not involved in that. I know we've always had cabs in New York, and I am very disappointed that it's not an American car that's going to be there.
William Clay Ford
We were part of the bidding process.
Unknown Shareholder
Were you?
William Clay Ford
Yes, we were, and they just go in different directions. But as you know, there are number of hybrid Escape taxicabs in the road in New York. In fact, we delivered those several years ago, and they've held up really, really well that New York taxi fleet is very happy with them. But on the new one that you're talking about, we did participate in the process, and they chose to go in a different direction.
Unknown Shareholder
Yes. Very disappointed in that. The car that they have is not very attractive, and it doesn't look too exciting. But I don't know if we can get back in there again. I hope we do. The other question was, I was wondering about the natural gas automobiles. Ford can be doing anything in the future with that? Because I noticed now the trucking companies all over the United States are going to be going into natural gas, and they're going to build almost 1,000 stations throughout the United States. And I would think this would be a great opportunity for us to get into it.
William Clay Ford
Yes. And we -- I'll let Alan handle this. But the short answer is yes, we are.
Alan R. Mulally
One other comment on the taxicabs is we have a really good offering with the Transit Connect, the -- our new -- the commercial van, which I think will be really well received going forward with taxies throughout the United States. With respect to natural gas, today, you can have any of our vehicles fitted with natural gas, and so that's always been a big part of our technology roadmap. But clearly, they work the best on the larger vehicles where you can handle the larger tanks. And as you pointed out, the thing that's really going to make it more viable going forward is the fact that we're building out the infrastructure. So it's a really important part of our technology roadmap going forward.
Unknown Shareholder
That's wonderful. Glad to hear that. You fellows are doing a tremendous job. I'm very proud of you.
Unknown Executive
Mr. Chairman, I'd like to introduce Mr. Hoscheit [ph] , who's a shareholder from Branchburg, New Jersey. He has a question about the company's communication, of its big success and also a question about the quality of its dealer core.
Unknown Shareholder
And if I can just make a comment for one second about New York and the Transit Connect. I own a Transit Connect, and that's New York's loss. It's a terrific vehicle in every way. But regarding Ford's success, the financials speak for themselves, every quarter and every year, and those are indisputable. But I what I've noticed is as analysts and commentators within the industry look at the monthly results, for example, there seems to be a big disconnect. They're continually watching volumes, market share at the end of the day, especially since Ford has gotten out ahead of those things and managed the bottom line first. It seems that the eyes are on the wrong ball. And how is Ford changing -- trying to change -- or is Ford trying to change that paradigm to better communicate excess -- or its success between quarters and the year?
William Clay Ford
And I might have our new Chief Financial Officer, Bob Shanks, to take a crack at this one.
Robert L. Shanks
We have a very robust communication process with the investment community and also, of course, with shareholders. And one of the things that we've been focusing on is what we call our plan, which is to move this company from where it's been in the past to where we want to go in the future. And that future includes much broader representation in all the growing markets and mature markets around the world, a much broader portfolio. So we're less dependent on large vehicles as we were in the past and able to participate wherever consumers want to go, whether it's small vehicles, medium-sized vehicles or the larger vehicles where we're all very, very successful. So I think we just keep communicating what we're doing and where we're going, and the results will begin to speak for themselves. And I'm very, very confident that it will be recognized, not only by the investment community but also shareholders and the broader world. So I think we're -- we feel very good about where we are and where we're going. But the operational performance will speak for itself as you pointed out.
Unknown Shareholder
Okay. And if I could just provide one brief example. If you look at April's numbers, there is -- everybody's hands are up in the air saying, oh geez, market share, market share, and we didn't hit the volumes and everything like that. But if you look at -- for example, you dropped the Panther vehicles and now Ranger's off the books, that accounts for almost every bit of it, which is something very obvious to somebody's who was interested enough to understand those things. But it seems to be the kind of information that ought to be part and parcel as it's presented, so even before the questions asked. So that would be the least -- from this investor's perspective.
William Clay Ford
Okay. Thank you for advice. We appreciate it.
Alan R. Mulally
No Transit Connect.
William Clay Ford
Okay. Well, thank you, ladies and gentlemen for your questions and comments. So at this time, I'd like to hear the voting results. And, Bradley, if you could fill us in, it'd be great.
Bradley Gayton
Excuse me, Mr. Chairman, we do have one more question.
Unknown Executive
I'd like to introduce Mr. Hickey [ph] from Toms River, New Jersey, who has a thank you.
Unknown Shareholder
Robert Hickey, Ford retiree, Edison, New Jersey. Bill, I want to thank you for your hiring of Mr. Mulally. Believe me, you did the right thing because he saved Ford Motor and the Ford family.
William Clay Ford
Yes, he did.
Unknown Shareholder
He did a fantastic job. What I wanted to talk about, too, is some of the benefits you give us, just one, the A-Z Plan. Why don't you just give us 4 points -- 4 tickets to any party. Because let's face reality, I'm in the older age group. I have a couple of young kids, grandkids, great grandkids, but it's other relatives that could use this plan. And also, why don't you make the Mustang a little bit bigger?
William Clay Ford
I know, wait a minute, you're talking about -- we could debate this all day. But it's...
Unknown Shareholder
I don't fit in the car.
William Clay Ford
Well, yes, you do. You just got to push the seat back.
Unknown Shareholder
When I went to work for Ford, we were building a '65 Mustang.
William Clay Ford
Yes. Well, that was smaller than today's Mustang.
Unknown Shareholder
Yes, but I fit in it.
William Clay Ford
Well, maybe you've gotten a little bigger over the years.
Unknown Shareholder
Well, that, too. But -- yes, and even the little Focus sedan. I don't fit in those cars. The windshields slump too much for one thing.
William Clay Ford
Well, -- and you do have a point, because we have made them faster windshields in recent years. But we really do to try and fit all of our vehicles to customers of all sizes. And sometimes it requires you to tilt the seat back maybe a little more than you would normally like.
Unknown Shareholder
Well, I and a couple of people that are 6-foot 3.
William Clay Ford
Fair enough. Don't give up on the Mustang, please.
All right. So thank you all. Are we back with number one? Okay. So let's hear the voting results, Bradley.
Bradley Gayton
Yes. Mr. Chairman, only a small percentage of the total votes remains to be counted but it won't affect the voting results.
With respect to Proposal 1, the election of directors, each of the director nominees received at least 86.3% of the votes. The vote on the remaining proposals was as follows: on Proposal 2, relating to the ratification of the selection of independent registered public accounting firm, 99% of the votes cast were in favor; on Proposal 3, relating to the approval on advisory basis of the compensation of named executives, 96.6% of the votes were cast in favor; on Proposal 4, relating to cumulative voting for the election of directors, 86.3% of the votes were cast against; on Proposal 5, relating to the consideration of recapitalization plan to provide all the company stock have 1 vote per share, 70.5% of votes cast were against; on Proposal 6, relating to permitting holders of 10% of common stock call special shareholder meetings, 80.8% of the votes were cast against.
William Clay Ford
Well, thank you very much, Bradley. In view of the results, I declare that each of the nominees for director named in the proxy statement has been duly elected as director of the company. Proposals 2 and 3 have been adopted, and Proposals 4, 5 and 6 have been defeated.
So that takes care of the business of the meeting, and the meeting is adjourned. Thank you all for coming, and please drive safely going home. Thank you.
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