DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. said yesterday that it has a plan to shore up the value of its new cars while making the nearly new cars it buys back from daily rental fleets more expensive to the average consumer.

Like its competitors, Ford sells cars to daily rental companies at a discount because these fleet sales allow the automaker to keep its factories running when other customers aren't buying.

Ford then buys these cars back about four months later.

But recently, dealers and auto industry analysts agreed that the value of new cars was being depressed by automakers churning so many rental vehicles. So Ford has announced that it won't buy back its 1992 cars in less than six months.