Ford's in the Money: Automaker Posts Record Profits Because You Love Trucks

by Matthew Guy

April 28th, 2016 9:40 AM

ford s in the money automaker posts record profits because you love trucks

News from Dearborn this morning will please recent purchasers of F-150s, Transits, and Fiestas — Ford Motor Company is absolutely on fire financially, earning $2.5 billion in a very large first quarter.

Ford’s pre-tax profit of $3.8 billion was a record for the company.

Net income at the Glass House more than doubled from last year’s $1.2 billion, translating into a record operating margin of 9.8 percent. Ford’s global market share is up by two-tenths of a percentage point ( to 7.1 percent), thanks to sales gains in North America, Europe, and Asian-Pacific markets.

“The first quarter was an absolutely terrific start to the year — an all-time record for the company, with very strong performance across the business,” Ford president and CEO Mark Fields said in a statement.

Ford reported after-tax earnings of 68 cents per share, up from 39 cents just a year ago.

Record gains in North America tempered losses in the South American market, where things are tough all around thanks to the recession in Brazil. Tanking oil prices and political strife caused losses in the African and Middle Eastern markets as well.

Unsurprisingly, high-profit vehicles such as the F-150 and cash cow SUVs are responsible for much of the North American gains. This time last year, Ford was struggling with low F-150 inventories due to preparations for building the pickups out of aluminium.

Making scads of dough is always a good thing, doubly so when it shifts the conversation away from all the truck recalls we reported on yesterday.

[Image: Ford Motor Company]

#F-150 #Ford #FordMotorCompany #Markets #Overseas #Profits #Sales #SUVs #Trucks

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21 of 92 comments

Superdessucke on Apr 28, 2016

They may be building more in Mexico but the profits come right back here to the one percenters in the good 'ol USA. ' Murica!!

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- Dave M. on Apr 28, 2016
  
  And the dealership and salesperson and advertising and future repairs and overall profit....that all came back to 'Murica....
  
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- Art Vandelay on Apr 28, 2016
  
  No F150 is Hecho in Mexico
  
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- 28-Cars-Later on Apr 28, 2016
  
  @Art Vandelay Yet.
  
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- Bball40dtw on Apr 29, 2016
  
  @28-Cars-Later It will be the last product (well maybe after Mustang) that Ford henchos for American consumption. They've moved production of medium duty trucks back here after they got out of the Navistar fiasco. Dearborn Truck, Kansas City Assembly, Kentucky Truck, and Avon Lake will all be building Ford trucks for a very long time. They'll hencho all their cars though.
  
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Inside Looking Out on Apr 28, 2016

When Ford starts making record profits from trucks and SUVs I get concerned. Are they going to buy AM, Jaguar and LR back, stop development of new Ford and Lincoln cars and dump cars into rental fleets?

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DeadWeight on Apr 28, 2016

*What's odd (or not) is that there are breaking newswire report that Ford is idling F150 production for one week as of tomorrow due to "excessive inventory" (over 286,000 F150s on dealer lots at last count). Maybe Q1 really was as good as it gets with a slowdown coming?

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- DenverMike on Apr 28, 2016
  
  That's way more than half of the total F-150s Ford sells in 4 quarters, sitting on dealer lots right now?? They'd better shut down for more than a week. Fleet sales of F-150s are around 40%, and they don't count as "inventory", so if this is just "retail" F-150s, they'd better shut down for the year! Something sounds a little *off*.
  
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- DeadWeight on Apr 28, 2016
  
  @DenverMike Headline says "due to mechanical issues," but did they bury a critical (and amazing) inventory level issue? http://www.autonews.com/article/20160428/OEM01/160429817/ford-will-shut-one-f-150-line-for-a-week Ford will shut one F-150 line for a week "Ford had 288,000 F-series pickups in inventory as of April 1, the most since July 2006, according to the Automotive News Data Center. That was equal to a 105-day supply, versus 90 for Ram pickups and 82 for the Chevrolet Silverado."
  
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- DeadWeight on Apr 28, 2016
  
  @DeadWeight AND yes, Mark S, Steph Willems, whomever - you may take my lewd on this potentially significant inventory story re the F Series inventories and splash the headline on TTAC even though I beat you the punch in reporting it and dissecting the real significance of it (this happens often, I suspect).
  
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- DenverMike on Apr 28, 2016
  
  @DeadWeight OK, you said "286,000 F-150s". Now you're saying "F-series". You know there's a difference right? They're kinda made on a different line, no?
  
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- DeadWeight on Apr 28, 2016
  
  @DenverMike I wrote F150s (it's automatic when I think of Ford p/u's) but the article quote states F Series (and then goes on to compare that to much lower inventories of rival pickup trucks).
  
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- DeadWeight on Apr 28, 2016
  
  @DenverMike Here's how the wire services reported it (citing Bloomberg): "28 23:04: Ford idling F-150 factory for one week, Bloomberg says"
  
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- DenverMike on Apr 29, 2016
  
  @DenverMike The "mechanical issue" is the reason for the one week shutdown and the overly strong inventory means "supply" won't be an issue in the least. They didn't specify if it was mechanical issue with the assembly line or F-150s, but that would be a "quality issue" and also affect the other F-150 line.
  
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- Bball40dtw on Apr 29, 2016
  
  The week shutdown has nothing to do with Ford being worried about truck sales. They finally have large enough inventories to make this move. DTP will still be cranking out three shifts of F150s. They need to do this now, because KCAP F150 production is lagging behind where it should be.
  
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Chocolatedeath on Apr 28, 2016

Ford should stop making these. THey are not thinking about the 35k plus folks who will die due to these being on the roads.

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- Art Vandelay on Apr 28, 2016
  
  Aaaaaaand....SHOVE IT!
  
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- Drzhivago138 on Apr 29, 2016
  
  ... Wha...?
  
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- Chocolatedeath on Apr 29, 2016
  
  @Drzhivago138 Just some satire from another post.
  
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- Chocolatedeath on Apr 29, 2016
  
  @Art Vandelay Big Al...what you talking bout...lol
  
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- Lou_BC on Apr 30, 2016
  
  Chocolatedeath - since the F150 was tested to be the safest pickup made there will be less occupants in those trucks dying from MVC's. The aluminum beer can jokes suddenly stopped when that came out.
  
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