US Carmaker Ford Reports Heavy Losses

NEW YORK, Feb 11 (Bernama-dpa) -- Ford closed the last quarter with heavy losses of US$11.1 billion, according to results released by the US car giant on Tuesday, reported German news agency dpa.

The decisive factors were the restructuring of its heavily loss-making electric vehicle business, a fire at an aluminium supplier and US President Donald Trump's import tariffs.

The US carmaker had already announced a write-down of US$19.5 billion on battery-powered vehicles. Ford had closed the same quarter last year with a profit of US$1.8 billion. 

Sales fell by 5 per cent year-on-year to US$45.9 billion.

At the divisional level, the picture was similar to previous quarters: the electric car division posted an operating loss of US$1.2 billion. Meanwhile, cars with combustion engines brought Ford an operating profit of US$727 million, and the commercial vehicle division earned about US$1.2 billion on this basis.

Following Tesla's success, the major US carmakers General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis invested billions of dollars to add more electric cars to their model ranges. 

In the future, Ford intends to focus more on hybrid vehicles - and on smaller models in the electric car segment. The fully electric version of the large F-150 pickup truck has been discontinued.

--BERNAMA-dpa