The car maker was hit hard by the lack of chips.
(Photo: dpa)
Detroit Ford suffered a slump in profits in the third quarter, but did better than experts expected. The bottom line was that profits fell by a quarter to $ 1.8 billion, as the second largest US automaker announced on Wednesday after the stock market closed. Local rival General Motors had previously reported a drop in profits of almost half due to the chip crisis.
Sales also indicate that Ford is better able to advance the business despite the global shortage of semiconductors: Ford posted sales of $ 35.7 billion, GM of $ 26.8 billion. Ford announced a fourth quarter dividend payment of ten cents per share.
The shortage of chips hit carmakers and suppliers around the world hard in the past quarter. In the past few months, they had to stop production lines and temporarily send employees home. Even Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker in terms of sales, which remained unscathed for a long time because of different stocks, had to lower its production targets in the end.
The industry is betting that the chip supply will stabilize in the next year and that it will be able to catch up with some of the lost production. However, some managers, including Daimler boss Ola Källenius, consider it possible that the effects of the delivery bottlenecks will drag on into 2023.
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Ford was able to contain the consequences of missing components, fragile supply chains and increased raw material costs in the period from July to September because the group sold more lucrative pickups and SUVs. For the future, the group – like GM and other car manufacturers – is relying on electric cars and digital services. The traditional manufacturers spend a lot of money in order not to be left behind by Tesla. The stock market value of the electric car maker from California climbed above a trillion dollars for the first time at the beginning of the week.
More: IG Metall is initiating a generation change at the most important German Ford location. The newcomer is not deterred by the difficult situation.