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Ford posts $1.19 billion in losses in first quarter

Ford Motor has posted massive losses for the first three months of the current year as it took $2.5 billion in charges for job cuts and plant closings. This is just the beginning of their massive restructuring process and this might continue in the near future.

The results also fell short of the market expectations as they also reported sales falling by around 6% during the period. Ford posted a first-quarter net loss of $1.19 billion, or 64 cents per share. This is disappointing considering they posted a profit of $1.21 billion, or 60 cents per share, a year ago.

This also happens to be their biggest quarterly loss in over four years. Ford had reported a loss of $5 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2001, which also was mainly because of an earlier restructuring that coincided with the start of Chief Executive Bill Ford Jr’s tenure as the head of the company.

Ford is also expected to cut production this year as it prepares to bring in new models in the coming months to lure in more customers. Rising fuel prices has led to decline in sales of their SUVs, which are now seen as gas guzzling monsters. Consumers in USA are now preferring fuel-efficient Japanese cars leading to problems for American automobile giants like GM and Ford.