Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) announced Tuesday flat earnings for the third quarter, as heavy losses in Europe balance out strong results from North American market. Company earned $1.63 billion in the quarter compared with $1.64 billion in the same period last year.
Ford’s global revenues for the quarter declined marginally to $32.1 billion from $33.1 billion in the third quarter of 2011. Automaker’s pretax profit in North America jumped to $2.32 billion in the quarter from $1.55 billion a year ago, driven by the introduction of new vehicles, like the Escape S.U.V., and higher transaction prices.
Company’s sales in Europe have fallen to its lowest sales levels in nearly 20 years. For Europe, Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) reported a pretax loss of $468 million compared to a pretax loss of $306 million in the third quarter last year. So far this year, company has lost more than $1 billion in the region and expects full year losses to exceed $1.5 billion. As a damage control, company announced last week to close three factories in the region and reduce head count by 5700.
The company’s chief executive, Alan R. Mulally, said in a statement, “While we are facing near-term challenges in Europe, we are fully committed to transforming our business in Europe by decisively matching production to demand, improve revenue through new products and a stronger brand, improve our cost efficiencies and take advantage of opportunities to profitably grow our business”.
The second-largest American automaker, earned $45 million in pretax profit in Asia, compared with a $43 million loss a year ago, while the pretax profit in South America fell to $9 million, down from $276 million a year ago.
“Ford’s more balanced product mix with a stronger presence in the small car segments enabled the company to operate at highly profitable levels in the North American and Asian markets, whereas the European operations continued to struggle,” said Jesse Toprak, an analyst with the auto research site TrueCar.
Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) survived the financial crisis that crippled the American auto industry in 2008, without a government bailout or bankruptcy filing unlike its Detroit rivals, General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) and Chrysler. Since then, the automaker has shifted its focus on offering a broader range of smaller, more fuel-efficient models. Company’s operating profit in North America was its highest since 2000 and expects similar results for the remaining year.
