Ford posts 1st quarter profit...

[mooseracing]

Figured I would post this since so many are quick to jump at the bad news of the big 3 or good news of foreign makers.....

Ford Article

The Ford Motor Company on Thursday said it earned $100 million in the first quarter, following a loss in the same quarter last year, a surprising improvement amid a slump in the United States market that has cut sales of its most lucrative vehicles. Ford?s automotive operations earned a pre-tax profit of $669 million, compared to a loss of $895 million a year ago, though the company continued its lengthy streak of money-losing quarters in North America.

Ford said it excluded revenue from its British luxury brands, Jaguar and Land Rover, which it has agreed to sell to Tata Motors of India and that total revenue would have been slightly up from last year if those brands were included. Ford will gain a net $1.7 billion from the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover, which was announced in March and is expected to close in the second quarter.

edit: and If I'm readin that right (i'm no CPA) where does the 5xx million in taxes go to?

 

[Ns1]

No idea. Corporate tax rate is .35, so they should've only paid out 234m in taxes for 694 in pre-tax profit. Would have to look at financial statements

 

[Ernie99]

Their pre-tax income was actually a lot lower than $669 million, but it was because of "special items." According to the report, personnel actions, US dealer reductions, and investment write-offs caused an additional $416 million impact to pre-tax profit.

 

[phreaqe]

i say good for them. they have been putting out some nice cars lately.

 

[owlface]

They make gorgeous f150s!

 

[phreaqe]

Originally posted by: owlface
They make gorgeous f150s!

i agree. i dont have a truck and probably never will unless it is a smaller one like the ranger or whatever but the f150's have been my favorite truck for a long time. they always seem to look the best.

 

[Q]

Originally posted by: phreaqe
i say good for them. they have been putting out some nice cars lately.

QFT. Good for our economy as well

 

[ElFenix]

their US ops will be fixed when we get the euro-spec focus and fiesta over here

 

[PricklyPete]

Ford said it excluded revenue from its British luxury brands, Jaguar and Land Rover, which it has agreed to sell to Tata Motors of India and that total revenue would have been slightly up from last year if those brands were included. Ford will gain a net $1.7 billion from the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover, which was announced in March and is expected to close in the second quarter.

If they included the Jaguar/Land Rover revenue...they also would have had to report the loss that those two company likely incurred...probably nullifying their profit overall.

 

[PricklyPete]

I'm still pretty happy that Ford it getting out of their problems...well hopefully. The car market looks really dim at the moment. GM and Ford are trying hard...just the market is requiring more than they can possibly do at the moment to keep up.

 

[CptCrunch]

Glad to see this. Ford has started to change just like GM. In fact, I'm looking at buying a Ford Edge in the next 18 months, and my dad is looking at a new f-150 (even though he just bought one).

 

[GoatMonkey]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
their US ops will be fixed when we get the euro-spec focus and fiesta over here

They need to bring the Mondeo back to the US also, and give it a name better than Contour. Either that, or make the Fusion cooler, something closer to the Mazda6 would be nice.

Ford has some interesting Australian cars too. The Falcon looks pretty cool, especially the one with the I-6 turbo.

Also, since Ford has already licensed Toyota's hybrid system for the Escape, they should take that and put it into a smaller vehicle. A Fusion with that system would be pretty good. They need something to get away from the gas guzzler image of big trucks ans SUVs.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: GoatMonkey
They need to bring the Mondeo back to the US also, and give it a name better than Contour. Either that, or make the Fusion cooler, something closer to the Mazda6 would be nice.

that would mean that ford is making two mazda6s. the way people typically hate badge engineering, i don't see that as a good thing. and considering the triplets are selling well anyway, i don't see your suggestion as happening any time soon.

Ford has some interesting Australian cars too. The Falcon looks pretty cool, especially the one with the I-6 turbo.

doubt it'd pass emissions in the US.

Also, since Ford has already licensed Toyota's hybrid system for the Escape, they should take that and put it into a smaller vehicle. A Fusion with that system would be pretty good. They need something to get away from the gas guzzler image of big trucks ans SUVs.

ford developed the system independently of toyota and then realized that it probably was covered by some toyota patents. something lost in the deal was that toyota also licensed some ford patents of comparable value, so it was a cross licensing agreement.

ford was pushing to put the hybrid system into lots of cars, but then figured the market wouldn't bear it. now maybe the market could.

i just had a thought for mercury brand, make all mercuries hybrids, standard. there is something that'd really set it apart from both ford and lincoln.