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The troubled Detroit automaker seeks to raise $100 million USD through the stock offering.

Perhaps driven by the specter of Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda investment, Ford took the step of looking for more cash under the seat cushions of its Hertz unit.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Hertz announced its plan to do an initial public offering at a point in the future. Details about the sale, like a date or a share price, have not been disclosed yet.

The $100 million figure was part of the filing solely to calculate a registration fee. Hertz has not officially announced how many shares it may sell.

Hertz would use the proceeds from an IPO to repay promissory notes issued to Ford on Friday; the amount of those notes was $1.19 billion USD. Should Hertz proceed with the offering, Ford would then divest itself of the unit.

Ford became Hertz's owner in 1994, seven years after acquiring a stake in the company. 18.5 percent of the company was once placed on the stock market in 1997. Ford bought back that stake in 2001.

In 2004, Hertz earned net income of $265.5 million on revenues of $6.68 billion. To compare, Enterprise Rent-A-Car said its 2004 revenue was $7.4 billion.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.