Ford has seen a significant increase in sales in the third quarter. According to the American car manufacturer, this is because it received many more chips and was therefore able to produce more cars.
Earlier in the year, Ford had to shut down many factories because of the chip shortages. The shortages are certainly not over and could last until 2023, but Ford thinks the situation will improve further from the beginning of next year. Ford’s sales for the months of July to September amounted to $35.7 billion, just under €31 billion. In the second quarter, sales still accounted for $26.8 billion in revenue. Net profit fell year-on-year to $1.8 billion. This was due to higher prices for, among other things, metal and energy, but also labour. Ford thinks it will be able to record a higher gross profit this year than it previously thought. The automaker now expects that gross profit to be between $10.5 and $11.5 billion (€9 billion to €9.9 billion).
The United States and Canada remain by far the largest markets for Ford. In the home market, the company believes it can grow rapidly if production also allows it. In Europe, Ford is still working to increase its profit margin and is already showing results. The European branch is no longer loss-making, now Ford wants to increase the margin to 6 percent by 2023.
To date, Ford has sold fewer cars this year than in the corona-disrupted 2020. When it sold 2.949 million cars in the first three quarters, the counter now stands at 2.838 million, a decrease of 4 percent. In Europe, the counter currently stands at 678,000 cars sold this year, which is almost the same as last year’s number.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl