DETROIT -- With industry sales down more than 10 percent so far this year and more tough times ahead, Ford Motor Co. executives are looking to speed up dealership closures.

In one of four scheduled meetings, Ford Motor executives today will begin briefing Lincoln Mercury dealers on product plans and the business outlook for the franchise. Regional managers will then spend the next two months having one-on-one conversations with all Lincoln Mercury dealers about their future, Ford Motor executives told Automotive News.

"It's our opportunity to put the cards on the table and say, 'Here's our view of what's transpired, our view for the future, how we've recalibrated our plans, and some discussion on how they should recalibrate their business going forward,'" said Randy Ortiz, general sales manager for the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands.

Ford Motor executives say they will share volume and product mix expectations with the Lincoln Mercury dealers. They also will provide guidance on their expectations of the cuts needed in the dealership network.

Lincoln Mercury dealers have long been asking Ford Motor executives to share specific product and volume plans, particularly regarding the uncertain future of the Mercury brand. A national Lincoln-Mercury dealer meeting set for April was canceled. Ford announced in July it would keep Mercury but trim back the number of products in the lineup.

2008 downturn

Candid discussions with the dealers are necessary because market conditions have worsened dramatically since spring, said Ken Czubay, Ford Motor's new vice president of U.S. sales and marketing. He joined the company in July.

"Not only has the size of the market changed -- some of the fundamental dynamics of the market have changed with the credit issues and the disappearance of the wealth in home equity," Czubay said. "So that's been a very important impact obviously. The price of fuel and the consumer's ability to have disposable income to allocate to the purchase of new cars has all come together in somewhat of a perfect bad storm for the car industry."

Ford Motor already has eliminated more than 500 stores since its dealership consolidation program started in the summer of 2006, Ortiz said. The company currently has about 3,900 domestic-brand dealerships in the United States. That's down from 4,056 at the beginning of 2008.

But Ford is not sharing a target number of dealerships to which it wants to reduce the ranks. "This is a living plan," Czubay said.

Ford executives say they don't plan to tell individual dealers whether factory executives consider their stores viable. Closures will remain strictly voluntary, executives stressed.

L-M dealers worry

Many Lincoln Mercury dealers are concerned they will bear the brunt of the closures. As one way to reduce store numbers, company executives have encouraged Ford and Lincoln-Mercury dealerships in metro areas to merge.

But that tactic threatens the livelihood of remaining stand-alone Lincoln-Mercury stores, some dealers say.

All too often, Ford dealers are allowed to add Lincoln and Mercury to existing facilities without doing much more than buying a brand sign, said Chris Lemley, president of Sentry Auto Group. Sentry operates three Lincoln-Mercury stores in the Boston area.

Ford's Ortiz said the dualing of franchises goes both ways: Lincoln-Mercury stores can also pick up the Ford brand. "We're agnostic," he said. "It's been pretty even."

In some metro areas, there already has been a significant reduction in stores, Ortiz said. On the other hand, "there's plenty where it's barely started."

The automaker is telling dealers that the ideal sales per store in metro areas will be 1,500 annually for Ford dealers and 600 for Lincoln-Mercury dealers.

Executives wouldn't share the current average sales for metro stores, but they are running well below the desired target. The 2008 downturn -- Ford, Lincoln and Mercury sales fell 13.9 percent through July -- has put the dealership network under further duress. It also has hurt dealer profitability.

After a slight recovery in aggregate net dealership profits in 2007, those returns are down once again this year, sources said. The Ford Motor executives wouldn't provide specifics on dealership profitability. "It's a tough year," Czubay said.

Buyout Money Won't Last

For dealers who are willing to consider getting out of the business, financial assistance is available. Dealers and dealership brokers have reported payments ranging up to $700,000 or more to encourage closures.

The financial assistance "will continue for the foreseeable future," said David Kelleher, Ford's director of market representation, an internal name for the dealership reduction effort. "Will it last forever? I doubt it. But for the foreseeable future, and I'd say that's through the end of the year."