Ford Motor Co. raised its incentive offers and cash rebates for the second time in less than a week on Oct. 4, in the latest move in an escalating Detroit price war, according to a Reuters report.

Ford had announced new incentives on its 2003 models on Oct. 1, offering "cashback" deals and interest-free loans for up to three years on many of its cars, minivans, sport utility vehicles and pickups.

But the deals announced Oct. 1 were somewhat less generous than those introduced just hours later by General Motors Corp., which said it would offer interest-free loans of up to five years on most new 2003 passenger cars and minivans, forcing Ford to raise the ante as quickly as possible, according to Reuters.

Apart from increasing cash rebates by about $500 on some models, including its best-selling F-Series pickups, the new incentives package Ford rolled out on Oct. 4 included zero percent, five-year loans on the 2003 model Ford Windstar minivan and 2002 models of the briskly-selling Focus compact car.

Ford also is offering a rebate of up to $7,000 on 2002 models of the Continental luxury sedan from its Lincoln Mercury division, or zero percent loans of up to five years toward purchases of the car, according to Reuters.

Ford Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Ford Jr. has admitted that the ongoing incentives war has been expensive for the world's No. 2 automaker, which is still trying to recover from last year's bath in red ink to the tune of $5.45 billion, Reuters said.

But GM has said it has the wherewithal to keep the incentives going and use them, along with its lineup of newer models, to steal market share from Ford and the Chrysler side of DaimlerChrysler AG.

Chrysler raised it own incentive program on Oct. 3.

Industry analysts estimate that zero percent loan deals cost the Big 3 U.S. automakers upwards of $3,000 per vehicle, Reuters said.