Bill Ford to star in new ad campaign focusing on hybrids.

Byline: Sarah A. Webster

DETROIT _ Ford Motor Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill Ford will appear in a national ad campaign that is slated to kick off Thursday and trumpet the automaker's commitment to build innovative and environmentally friendly cars and trucks, such as those powered by hybrid gasoline-electric engines.

The ads come at the same time the Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker is expected to report it lost money during the last three months _ the company's first quarterly loss since the end of 2003.

Ford earned $2.2 billion through the first half of the year and is still expected to turn a profit this year. But a poll of independent industry experts predicts the automaker lost about 9 cents a share, or more than $160 million, during the third quarter.

Those losses, and the dog-eat-dog …