DEARBORN, MI – Ford Motor Company has completed the sale of The Hertz Corp. to an investor group of leading private equity firms. The investor group, composed of Clayton Dubilier & Rice, The Carlyle Group, and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity, purchased the equity of The Hertz Corp. in a transaction valued at approximately $15 billion including debt. Under the terms of the agreement, which was entered into last September, Ford received $5.6 billion in cash for the sale of its 100 percent ownership interest in Hertz. As a result of the sale of Hertz, Ford will recognize a pre-tax gain in the fourth quarter of 2005 that is estimated to be in the range of $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion.