Looking up: Profit suggests Ford on right road

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Good news Monday from Ford. The automaker reported a third-quarter profit of nearly $1 billion. That’s right, a profit. And Ford says it expects to be "solidly profitable” in 2011.

That would be remarkable, given the road traveled by Ford and the other U.S. car companies.

Ford lost more than $14.6 billion last year and it hasn’t posted a full-year profit since 2005. General Motors and Chrysler fared even worse.

But Ford parted company with the other two members of the "Big Three” when it decided not to accept a bailout from the federal government or go into bankruptcy.

Instead, Ford cut costs — $4.6 billion in the first nine months of this year, The Wall Street Journal reports. It lowered manufacturing and engineering expenses.

Even so, the company faces big challenges, as does the entire domestic industry.

No one knows what will happen now that the government’s "Cash for Clunkers” incentive program has expired. Members of the United Auto Workers have rejected a deal with Ford to bring the company’s labor costs in line with GM’s and Chrysler’s. Workers apparently believe Ford is healthy enough they don’t need to limit their strike rights or agree to an entry-level wage freeze. Just an opinion, but it might be a little premature for workers to act like it’s 1985 again.

Still, a profit’s a profit, and at least Ford can focus on the marketplace without worrying about repaying taxpayers or having Washington dictate everything from executive pay to whether fins would look good on a Mustang.