Way to go Ford Leadership team. More bad news to follow.
Ford Motor on Wednesday said it lost money in the third quarter as rising costs took a toll on the company and it wrote down the value of an investment in a self-driving technology business.
The automaker said it lost $827 million, compared with a profit of $1.8 billion in the third quarter of 2021. Its revenue in the three months from July to September totaled $39.4 billion, compared with $35.7 billion in the year-ago period.
Ford said it shipped 1.1 million cars and light trucks in the quarter, compared with just over one million in the same period last year.
The company’s operating profit in North America fell and it lost money in China and in its mobility division, which has been trying to develop self-driving cars and other new lines of businesses. Ford said it was winding down its self-driving technology business, Argo AI, which also counts Volkswagen as an investor, to focus on driver-assistance technology that the company is building internally. That decision led to a $2.7 billion write-down of Ford’s investment in the business. The company said it would hire some employees from Argo.
Last month Ford signaled that costs were rising fast in the third quarter, warning that spending on parts and materials would be $1 billion higher than expected. At the time, it said adjusted earnings before interest and taxes would be between $1.4 billion to $1.7 billion in the three-month period. A year ago it had adjusted earnings of $3 billion.
Like other carmakers, Ford has struggled to adjust to disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, including a global shortage of computer chips. The company’s production has bounced up and down from month to month as parts have become easier or harder to come by.