Ford lowered its full-year profit outlook after booking weaker earnings in the third quarter, citing slower sales in China and the need to offer bigger discounts in North America among other headwinds. The setbacks raise the pressure on the carmaker, which is in the midst of an $11bn global restructuring aimed at improving profitability and accelerating its development of electric and self driving cars. On Wednesday, the company said it now expects operating profits this year to come in at or below their year-ago level.
Ford estimated that adjusted earnings before interest and taxes will be between $6.5bn and $7bn, down from its previous forecast of $7bn to $7.5bn and therefore less than the $7bn in 2018. It has pulled less profitable vehicles from its North American line up, eliminated thousands of jobs, marked some plants for closure and expanded an alliance with German carmaker Volkswagen to share technology and costs.
In the third quarter, North America – Ford’s biggest market – was the lone region to post an operating profit, at more than $2bn.
In Europe, where Ford has said it would cut 12,000 jobs, it recordec an operating loss of $179m. It lost $281m in China. Ford has struggled to boost sales in Asia’s largest economy, where automakers have seen demand cool amid an economic slowdown and trade tensions with the US. The company has recently introduced new models in China in hopes of stoking demand, and plans to launch a bevy of electric vehicles over the next few years. Ford has also said it would work to build lower-priced cars in the region.