Ford Motor Co. suspended the dividend that management repeatedly vowed to maintain even through a downturn as a global pandemic forces the struggling automaker to protect its cash reserves.

The company took the step to prioritize financial flexibility and investments in new-product launches this year, according to a statement. Ford also will fully draw $15.4 billion from two credit lines and retracted the 2020 earnings guidance it gave investors Feb. 4.

“While we obviously didn’t foresee the coronavirus pandemic, we have maintained a strong balance sheet and ample liquidity so that we could weather economic uncertainty and continue to invest in our future,” Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett said in the statement. “I’m confident in the actions we are taking to navigate the current uncertainty while continuing to build toward the future.”

Ford shares (F) fell as much as 8.9% shortly after the start of regular trading. The stock, which as of early this month had fallen further under Hackett than his predecessor, closed Wednesday at the lowest since April 2009.

Hackett, 64, took the steps to bulk up on cash hours before Ford halts production at all its North American factories through March 30 for deep cleaning. The shutdown will cost the company $1 billion in lost earnings before interest and taxes, Michael Ward, an analyst at Benchmark Co., estimated in a note to clients earlier Thursday.

Ford will lose about 140,000 vehicles of production during the 11-day shutdown, or about $5.3 billion of revenue, he wrote. Ward lowered earnings estimates for the carmaker, which he rates a hold.

Analysts have speculated in the wake of the virus that factory closings and the global slowdown of vehicle purchases probably would force Ford management’s hand. Then-CFO Bob Shanks said in August 2018 that reports the dividend was at risk were “baseless.”

“The dividend’s been a legendary value creator at Ford,” Hackett said Feb. 4. “I want to continue that, because we said we could do it, and right now we can.”

Joseph Spak, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, predicted a dividend cut last week, writing in a report that the $2.4 billion annual cost of the dividend would be too much of a burden for a company that’s repeatedly come up short with its earnings and just issued a disappointing profit forecast for the year.

Hackett recently shook up management by appointing Jim Farley chief operating officer and gave him a mandate to accelerate an $11 billion restructuring. Credit-ratings companies have raised concerns about the efficacy of those efforts, with Moody’s Investors Service downgrading Ford to junk and S&P Global Ratings cutting the company to the lowest rung of investment grade rating last year.

Ford’s board of directors last week cemented Farley’s status as heir apparent to Hackett by disclosing it had arranged a $2.5 million stock award for the 57-year-old if he is not named the next CEO.

The 15-cent quarterly dividend Ford had been paying provided tens of millions in annual income to owners of the Class B stock that only the progeny of Henry Ford can hold, which gives them 40% voting control over the company. Executive Chairman Bill Ford, Henry’s great grandson, and his cousin Edsel Ford II are on the company’s board and among several family members still involved in running the company.