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chitown

Nothing better on the road than a Ford Tough F150 or F250 Pick Up!!

Ford Reports Surprise $1 Billion 3Q Profit - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford, the only Detroit automaker to dodge direct government aid and bankruptcy court, surprised investors with net income of nearly $1 billion in the third quarter and forecast a "solidly profitable" 2011.
The automaker said Monday earnings were fueled by U.S. market share gains, cost cuts and the Cash for Clunkers program, which drew flocks of buyers to showrooms this summer. Ford's stock rose 40 cents, or 5.7 percent, to $7.40 in pre-market trading.
The latest results signal that Ford's turnaround is on more solid ground. The company lost more than $14.6 billion last year and hasn't posted a full-year profit since 2005. While it made a profit in the second quarter, that was mainly due to debt reductions that cut its interest payments.
Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford reported third-quarter net income of $997 million, or 29 cents per share. Ford also forecast a "solidly profitable" 2011. Previously the automaker said it would be break-even or better.
Its key North American car and truck division posted a pretax profit of $357 million, the company's first quarter in the black since early 2005. Ford cited higher pricing, lower material costs and increased market share for the improvement.

Excluding one-time items, Ford earned 26 cents per share, blowing away analysts' expectations of a loss of 12 cents.
The earnings came despite an $800 million revenue drop. But Ford said it cut costs by $1 billion during the quarter, accomplished through layoffs in North America and Europe, reduced pension and retiree health care costs and improvements in productivity and product development.
Chief financial officer Lewis Booth said the company took in $1.3 billion more than it spent in the quarter, an improvement over its $1 billion cash burn in the second quarter.
"That's a huge deal," Booth said.
Ford's plan to create demand and get better prices for its products, coupled with cost cuts, gives the company confidence that it will make money in 2011, Booth said.
But Ford still faces obstacles in its turnaround. Last week, workers overwhelmingly rejected an agreement with the United Auto Workers that would have brought Ford's labor costs in line with rivals General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC. Workers objected to clauses limiting their right to strike and freezing entry-level wages, and felt the company was healthy enough and didn't need further concessions.
Ford also has $26.9 billion in debt, up $800 million from the second quarter.
Ford didn't quantify the impact of Cash for Clunkers, which offered buyers rebates to trade in their vehicles. The program helped Ford cut costly incentives and raise production. It also won buyers; the Ford Focus and Ford Escape were among the top five sellers in the program. Ford sales were up 17 percent in August thanks to the program.
Ford's revenue fell $800 million for the quarter, to $30.9 billion, due mainly to its financial services arm, Ford Motor Credit, making fewer loans.
But the division still posted a pretax profit of $677 million, and revenue from auto operations rose slightly to $27.9 billion.
Ford also has benefited from consumer goodwill after it declined government bailout money and didn't go into bankruptcy over the summer as GM and Chrysler did. Ford grabbed sales from its rivals, posting the largest increase in market share of any automaker in September. Ford expects an overall gain in U.S. market share in 2009, a feat it hasn't accomplished since 1995.

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It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Fabian

Ford Focus is a bit different to an F 150.

sabang

Ford and GM. Someone should write a book.

I do applaud a good business.

chitown

I am just telling you what I like.
I have owned over 100 Fords / Lincolns and been happy with every one that I had.

Fabian

100? I did not think that they break down that fast.

chitown

I always had 3 or 4 sitting in the drive and I moved them ever year or so.

I bought one Chevy truck and it was a lemon. I never gad issues with any of my Ford products.

friscofrankie

I've been service manager for companies with Ford trucks and Chevy trucks. I like Chevys, but a truck? Gimme a Ford any day. Much less maintenance and repair problems, lower overall cost of ownership. Chevy trucks are basically cars with pickup-looking bodies on them.

Rural Surin

Wonder how truely 'successful' they might be vacant of the decades of government subsidies, assorted bal-out packages, and revolving-door bankruptcy protection..??

chitown

What bankruptcy? They refused bailout money unlike GM and Chrysler.

Ford Executive: Automaker Doesn't Need Bailout : NPR
Ford Executive: Automaker Doesn't Need Bailout


While General Motors and Chrysler may face structured bankruptcy, Ford has yet to ask for any government bailout funds. William Clay Ford Jr., executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., says that car sales still are not where they need to be. Car sales for the Detroit Three — Chrysler, GM and Ford — are down more than 40 percent.
"The good news for Ford is that our market share has been going up and up each month," Ford tells host Melissa Block. He says what's really needed is "a program to stimulate sales for the entire industry."
Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH) introduced the CARS Act in March as a way to modernize the U.S. auto fleet. The bill would provide consumers with a $3,000 to $5,000 incentive to trade in older cars to buy more fuel-efficient cars.
Ford says he is enthusiastic about the idea. "It clearly stimulates the economy, and it gets the consumer into the showroom and gets them buying again. But importantly — and this is what I particularly like about it — it really helps the environment quite a bit in two respects."
He says it takes an older, less fuel-efficient vehicle off the road and replaces it with a vehicle that is likely to have twice the fuel economy. And, he says, "the older cars tend to be much more polluting. And if you get them off the road and get a newer car with the newest technology, you're helping [reduce] C02 emissions, too."
Ford says similar programs are already working in Germany and France, and many other countries are interested in the idea.
GM, Chrysler Bankruptcy Impact
If GM or Chrysler goes bankrupt, what impact will this have on Ford?
"It's the great unknown in terms of what the impact is on us because there are so many ways it could happen," Ford says.
"It could get very messy. Therefore, no matter what happens to any of our competitors, the fact that we have a new UAW [United Auto Workers] agreement, we have a new health care agreement, we've taken steps to restructure our debt, and we've invested very heavily in green technology — I think all of those things are exactly the kind of things that the country would like to see us do."
He says that if auto suppliers collapse, that could threaten not just Ford, GM and Chrysler but any car companies — including Toyota and Honda — that produce vehicles in the United States. And that's something the Obama administration is well aware of, he says.
Future Bailout For Ford?
Earlier this week, independent auto analyst Maryann Keller told NPR that Ford remains in a "precarious financial position."
If demand for vehicles doesn't improve, does that mean Ford may need to ask the government for a credit line?
"We think we have sufficient liquidity," Ford said. "We don't see any need to think about going for additional liquidity. Obviously at some point, if global auto sales don't pick up — not just for Ford but for frankly every other automaker out there — it's not going to be a good thing."
He says the outlook for 2009 isn't great, but the company remains well-positioned if there is a modest pickup in sales in 2010. Still, he says, "we're not projecting a huge boost in auto sales."
It's possible that when all the dust settles, there will no longer be three car companies in Detroit.
"I have no way of knowing how many car companies — American or foreign — there are going to be," Ford says." But what I do know is that Ford is going to be one of the key players."