Bill Ford, who planned to meet with White House officials later in the day on his ideas to lessen consumer dependence on foreign oil, also said he would not accelerate the time frame for announcing the company's domestic cuts even though rival General Motors has unveiled its cost-savings strategy.

GM said on Monday it would cut 30,000 manufacturing jobs and close all or part of a dozen plants in the United States and Canada to save $7 billion by the end of 2006.