The global financial crisis might be causing Ford significant pain, but the giant is not about to keel over, the brand's top man in New Zealand says.

Richard Matheson, a Bostonian who signed on for three years as managing director of Ford New Zealand and happily stayed for six, is returning Stateside.

Heading to Dearborn to take a senior position in the North American Field Operations Team, the 52-year-old laughs off suggestions he might be jumping from the frying pan to the fire - "or, as someone said to me the other day, the blazing inferno."

"Everybody who is selling cars over there is in a difficult state," he acknowledged. Cars sales are at the lowest since 1983, with a 12 million total likely for 2008. "When I left to come to New Zealand, we were looking at 16 million annual sales."

The company founded more than a century ago by Henry Ford, the man credited with putting the world on wheels, yesterday joined General Motors and Chrysler in seeking US Government help.

Without help, many analysts believe the automakers will run out of money by mid-2009, but Republicans are opposing a bailout of up to $US25 billion.

At most risk of bankruptcy is GM - which appears to be burning around $US2 billion in cash a month. GM's decision yesterday to sell its shareholding in Suzuki has, according to industry pundits, bought it just 8.6 days of life.

Ford is also seemingly set to sell most of its stake in Mazda, a cash cow since the Blue Oval rescued it.

Matheson says the situation in most places is difficult, and particularly tough in his homeland, but he has every confidence in the company he has dedicated 25 years will power on.

"There's a recognition that we're all in this together, and that we all have to work together to get through. I think we will. These are pretty exciting times."

Exciting? Oh yeah, there's nothing like a challenge, he says.

"If you love this business, as I do, then you enjoy these times more than the good times - it's in the hard times that you have to be very good at what you do."

Matheson doesn't shy away when asked if he believes Ford New Zealand is in better shape now than when be arrived.

"Yes, I think it is. But, boy, we've seen some change. Even these last couple of months have been pretty fast-paced, it's been changing very rapidly. But we're still doing okay."

However, he agrees it's a very different company now than when he arrived - the degree of this being immediately evident in the showroom.

Back in 2002 large Australian cars were the ruling class; Falcon and Holden's Commodore were the family and corporate choice. No longer.

While both remain significant, for Ford the focus (no pun intended) has broadened. In addition to Falcon, Ford dealers are being pushed to boost customer interest in the smaller, sophisticated European passenger models - Mondeo, Focus and Fiesta. And there's an emphasis on diesel; a fuel that simply didn't feature in Ford's passenger plans back then.

"When I came down there was one car in the market, the Falcon, and that was soon after joined by another vehicle, called the Territory.

"That was my introduction to New Zealand - we had two vehicles that were large, V8-based insofar as the Falcon was concerned and a seven-passenger model in regard to the Territory.

"And they competed in segments that together accounted for 30 percent of the market. Now those segments account for perhaps 15 percent of the market, so we've had to transition to small and medium-sized vehicles, and diesel derivatives."

The passionate 'big car guy', contends the Falcon and its SUV spin-off still has a relevant role in New Zealand. Falcon is still the fourth best-selling new model here and, with fuel prices low again, customers were showing renewed interest.

"I think there will always be a place for those cars, you have to get families around, you have to tow boats - and these cars are getting more fuel efficient every year. It's still more economical than getting people into two very small cars."

But the good old times were unlikely to repeat.

It's not going to be a 25 percent segment any more - it's going to be 10-12 percent going forward."

In hindsight, he had not had a full understanding of how the NZ car market worked when he arrived.

"The involvement of lease companies here is extensive compared to the States. That was a surprise. Used import vehicles were also a big thing to adjust to."

He was also stunned by the rivalry between Ford and Holden and their fans. "There's a lot between Ford and Chevrolet back in the States, but that pales in comparison to what we have here."

Matheson said he had learned much from heading Ford NZ, which size-wise was smaller than some car retail outfits in Boston, "and we will certainly miss the people. It's a great team."

"My family and I have loved our time in NZ and have fully embraced the NZ lifestyle . . . [it] is a wonderful country and at some later stage we hope to return."

His replacement is Trevor Auger, currently Ford NZ's sales manager.

What this means to you:
Matheson has steered Ford NZ through massive change. We'll miss him.