Ford Motor posts record US profit

Ford Motor registered a smart recovery in North American, which propelled the company to record profits in the third quarter. Meanwhile, the company unveiled an aggressive plan to restore profits in Europe by mid-decade after incurring a $468 million pre-tax loss.

Ford's overall pre-tax profit in the quarter stood at $2.2 billion, or 40 cents per share, and net income was $1.6 billion, or 41 cents per share, even as revenue declined 3 per cent.

Results came in especially strong for North America, with $2.3 billion in pre-tax profits, an impressive 12 per cent operating margin on $19.5 billion in revenues. The company's lending arm, Ford Credit, also contributed $393 million, the figure though, was down $188 million from a year ago.

According to Ford president and CEO, Alan Mulaly, the Ford team delivered a best-ever third quarter, driven by record results in North America and the continued strength of Ford Credit.

He added, though the company was facing near-term challenges in Europe, it remained fully committed to transforming its business in Europe by moving decisively to match production to demand, improving revenue through new products and a stronger brand, improving its cost efficiencies and taking advantage of opportunities to profitably grow its business.

With the latest results, Ford has now posted three consecutive quarters of pre-tax profit in excess of $2 billion in the home market and an operating margin of 10 per cent or higher, despite a 1.5 point loss in market share. According to officials, the improvement was in part due to better pricing on many of its models as customers opted for better features and technology to their vehicles.