Ford Motor Co. could post a pretax loss of $8 billion to $9 billion this year because of losses at its automotive operations and charges for restructuring, the Detroit News reported on Thursday, citing unnamed Ford sources.

Automotive operations are projected to rack up pretax losses of $5.6 billion to $5.9 billion, according to a September 6 internal report prepared by Chief Financial Officer Don Leclair's office, according to the report.

We're not commenting on speculation, Ford spokesman Oscar Suris told Reuters.

Ford's board of directors was set to meet Thursday to discuss new restructuring measures.

On Sept 5, Ford named former Boeing executive Alan Mulally as chief executive, ending the troubled five-year stint of Bill Ford Jr. as the operational head of the automaker founded by his great-grandfather.

Mulally, who spearheaded the resurgence in Boeing Co.'s commercial plane division after the sharp decline that followed the attacks of September, 2001, becomes one of the first chief executives of a major automaker from outside the industry.

Ford Motor Company