Jacques Nasser, former boss of US automobile giant Ford, could earn up to $17.8m (�12.5m) for the year in which he was sacked, the company has disclosed.

Mr Nasser was pushed out of Ford in October last year, after a series of disappointing results and a huge and expensive recall of tyres fitted to the company's top-selling Explorer model.

Losses for 2001 totalling $5.45bn.

But despite that, the vast salary package includes stock options worth as much as $12.9m if they are held till March 2011 - although the level at which they become valid is twice Ford's current $15 share price.

Mr Nasser is also in line for the cash value of 350,000 shares - or about $5.3m at current prices - within 18 months.

In 2000, even though the company was in the throes of its recall problems, Mr Nasser was paid $12.1m.

His successor William Clay Ford Jr, great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, is not taking a salary, accepting stock options instead.