Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co., which is dropping PacificInvestment Management Co.’s main fund from its investment optionsfor employees, is maintaining a relationship with the bond giantafter its co-founder Bill Gross’s surprise exit last month.

“While the Pimco Total Return Fund will be removed as aninvestment option from Ford’s retirement savings plan, Fordcontinues to partner with Pimco through many other investmentmandates,” Becky Sanch, a spokeswoman for Dearborn, Michigan- basedFord, said in an e-mail. “Ford and Pimco have enjoyed a longproductive relationship and Ford has confidence in the nextgeneration of Pimco leaders, many of whom have been involved inFord portfolios around the world.”

The $202 billion Pimco Total Return Fund will be removedeffective Nov. 14, Sanch said yesterday, citing the departure of70-year-old Gross. Ford is among large investors moving money fromPimco after his Sept. 26 exit, with clients rattled by the changepulling a record $23.5 billion in September from the Total ReturnFund. They’re moving money to competing funds, or parking it inmoney-market funds and exchange-traded funds while theyreevaluate.

Ford participant balances and future contributions will betransferred to the Bond Index Fund, which is invested in acollective investment fund through a unit of BlackRock Inc. and hasthe same benchmark as the Pimco fund. Employees can transfer out ofthe Pimco fund any time before Nov. 14, she said.