Like its larger competitor General Motors Corp. (GM), Ford is struggling to rein in high costs and forestall a steady loss of market share to more-nimble foreign competitors.

"People have begun calling it 'the Way Forward-without-you plan,'" one of the sources said. He said Ford asked salaried employees to turn in first-quarter vacation schedules by Jan. 12, and he said the speculation by employees is that Ford will use vacation plans to help decide when to cut employees.

A slew of vehicles that once were leaders in the market have grown old and lost sales in recent years. The list includes the Ranger pickup, the Focus sedan, the Taurus sedan and the company's minivans. The minivans are reportedly going to be redesigned as crossover vehicles in coming years or killed altogether.

"Ford will trail the industry in product age by third-quarter 2006," Citigroup's Rogers wrote in a note to investors Thursday. "On average, Ford's product portfolio will be the oldest in the industry from fourth quarter of 2006 through the first half of 2008."

Analysts criticize Ford for missing the boat on certain trends, or coming late to the party on market shifts. For instance, five of the seven top car companies in terms of U.S. sales are introducing or redesigning small cars - commonly referred to as 'B-cars' - for release in 2006. Ford is absent from the mix, saying it has yet to come up with a profitable and desirable vehicle for the segment.

"We'll see how the B-car market matures in North America," [Ford big guy] Fields said last week. The segment is expected to
post between 5% and 10% growth in 2006, according to GM estimates, and consumers are flocking to small cars amid consistently high gas prices.

Ford Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill Ford Jr. said the auto maker has been caught off-guard by the dramatic
decline in SUV demand. He said the company had been planning on deterioration in the segment, and developing crossover SUVs - based on cars instead of trucks - in order to meet shifting tastes.

Ford's foray into the booming mid- and full-size crossover segment, which began in earnest in late 2004, follows far behind
the Japanese auto makers, which launched similar vehicles as early as 2000.

"The Imperial's exterior artfully blends a stately nobility, hand craftsmanship, and modern dynamic sculpture and proportion," says Mike Nicholas, principal exterior designer.