MACKINAC ISLAND ? With General Motors Corp. on the verge of a historic bankruptcy filing and suppliers Visteon and Metaldyne entering into Chapter 11, Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. said today, “Our biggest worry as we look ahead is the health of the supply base, and we can’t unilaterally solve that.”

In an exclusive interview here, where he will speak about auto industry electrification Friday at a conference, Ford said, “Every day we’re in uncharted water.?

“There is no playbook for where we are today and it’s interesting. It’s almost impossible to scenario plan this because there are so many variables.”

Ford said his company was not surprised by the bankruptcy of Visteon, Ford Motor’s former components unit that was spun off in 2000.?

Tony Brown, Ford’s purchasing chief, has been working with Visteon and other customers to line up debtor-in-possession financing to enable the supplier to operate while in bankruptcy. Barclay’s Capital said Visteon could need $500 million to $700 million in DIP financing.

“I think that was pretty well orchestrated and I think Tony did a nice job of helping Visteon get that lined up,” Ford said. “While nobody wants to see a company go bankrupt, we believe the impact upon us will not be huge as they go through it because we sort of preplanned the outcome.”

Ford said he believes the federal government, which looks poised to take large ownership stakes in GM and Chrysler, is very aware of the importance of keeping the supply base functional.

“One thing that’s encouraging is that it looks like the government is going to provide a lot of money to GM, which will be passed through to the supply base,” he said. President Barack Obama’s auto task force “is acutely ware of the ripple effect this could have and they’re going to do everything they can to prevent that,” he added.

Ford also ruminated a bit on the prospect of competing against state-owned rivals. “While I certainly like our position a lot better, they also are making the rules, so it’s going to be an interesting dynamic,” he said. Ford Motor is the only one of the three Detroit-based automakers not surviving on federal loans first approved by former President George W. Bush last December.

Despite weak overall sales of cars and trucks in the United States, Ford Motor has made modest gains in market share during the past nine months.

Ford said he’s encouraged by that trend, but warned that because of recently announced plans by GM and Chrysler to shed hundreds of dealers, “we may see a lot of short-term distortion in the marketplace for the next 30, 60, 90 days as lots of fire-saleing is going on by our competition.”

BY TOM WALSH ? FREE PRESS BUSINESS COLUMNIST ? MAY 28, 2009

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