Ford Motor Co. said it would temporarily halt production at 10 assembly plants between now and the end of the year as part of its turnaround plan to respond to weakening U.S. demand for fuel-hungry trucks and SUVs amid high gasoline prices.

The U.S.'s second-largest automaker Ford announced a turnaround plan in January that called for cutting 25,000 to 30,000 jobs and closing 14 plants by 2012.

By year's end, the company was to have cut production capacity 15 percent.

Ford said the production cuts were necessary because high gasoline prices were hurting sales of pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles.

"We know this decision will have a dramatic impact on our employees as well as our suppliers," Chief Executive Bill Ford said in a message to employees. "This is, however, the right call for our customers, our dealers and our long-term future."

The company said fourth-quarter production would be down 21 percent, or 168,000 units, from last year. Third-quarter production will be 20,000 units below what was previously announced and 78,000 units below last year.

For the full year, Ford plans to produce about 9 percent fewer vehicles than last year for a total of just above three million.

Like other U.S. automakers, Ford is heavily dependent on sport utility vehicles and other trucks, which have far higher profit margins than cars.

Last year, 68 percent of the vehicles sold by the company in the U.S. were trucks, compared with 58 percent for the industry as a whole.

"An unprecedented spike in gasoline prices during the second quarter impacted our product lineup more than that of our competitors because of the long-standing success of our trucks and SUVs," Bill Ford said in his note Friday.

General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group also have been caught in the shift away from trucks and SUVs to smaller cars and crossovers as consumers seek better fuel economy.

The Big Three's combined U.S. market share fell to 54.5 percent for the first seven months of 2006, down from 58.7 percent in the same period a year ago.

Source:Xinhua/Agencies