I'm not an expert, but I know that Ford as a company had a bit more foresight than the other two members of the Big Three. While GM and Chrysler kept all of their brands and hoped to simply ride out the crisis, Ford actively restructured themselves beforehand. They sold off some brands (Volvo, Land Rover, etc.) and raised a good emergency fund for the recession. I don't know if the union worked differently with Ford, but that may have played a part as well. Additionally, you can probably point at their marketing. Ford has been running decent ads, and sales generally prove that the campaigns helped to keep enough people buying to stay afloat.
Hope this helps.
