The Detroit News reported that in a speech Wednesday, Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally said there are "other levers" the automaker can pull to downsize its North American manufacturing operations.

"We have a lot of different mechanisms to keep right-sizing the place," Mulally said during a speech at the Morgan Stanley Global Automotive Conference in New York.

Although Mulally did not specify what Ford may do to further trim its work force, a source told the newspaper the company might offer targeted buyouts.

Ford had hoped between 8,000 and 10,000 hourly employees would sign up for one of the buyout packages it began offering a month ago, but as of last week only about 2,000 workers had taken the company up on its offer, the newspaper said.

Gary Chaison, a labor expert and a professor at Clark University, said the automaker would have to make the offers more appealing for more workers to accept them.

"The idea of targeted buyouts makes some sense," he said. "But they can only offer buyouts so many times."