Ford may have cut their European budget for production and marketing in the face of a projected €1.1-billion loss for 2012, but as the books closed on the year’s third-quarter, the motoring giant has posted profits of US$1.6-billion.
Ford reported a $2.3 billion pretax profit in North America, its best performance since the company began reporting separate North American results 12 years ago. This makes it 13 consecutive quarters in which Ford has posted pre-tax profits and 2012′s Q3 result comes despite sustaining a US$468-million loss in Europe, where sales have fallen sharply because of the troubled economy.
Ford’s U.S. operations have been profitable for the past three years, following intense restructuring that saw thousands of job cuts, plant closures and the accelerated development of new products like the Focus.
“In the United States over the last few years, we have taken very dramatic action to size our production to the real demand, to accelerate the development of the new products that people really do want and value, to cover more of the market segments,” Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally told investors during a conference call on Tuesday.
Ford has begun a similar shake up in its European operations, where the company hopes to stem its losses by introducing 15 new vehicles over the next five years, including the iconic Mustang sports car. At this point, three European factories are schedule to be closed by 2014 and the company expects to lose more than US$1.5 billion between 2012 and 2013, before seeing profits return towards the middle of the decade.
Across the pond in its Asia Pacific region, Ford earned US$45-million, coming good on its loss from 2011 and gaining a 3.6 percent market share in China, up from 2.8 percent in 2011.
Comments
Powered by Facebook Comments
