Ford’s Investment in Trucks Continues to Pay Off
Trucks keep things afloat after Ford suffers shaky first quarter.
On paper, Ford’s first quarter results for 2017 look rather concerning. Net income sunk 35% as demand for new vehicles in the U.S. dropped across the board. But the Blue Oval has warned all along that sales this year would fail to match a strong 2016, and they remain focused on two important future initiatives – trucks and technology.
With the refreshed Ford F-150 truck and all-new Expedition bowing later this year, Ford is clearly looking toward the future. And the automaker continues to pour money into new trucks to stay ahead of the competition. That, along with their investments in self-driving cars and ride share services are much of the reason why Ford projects a pre-tax profit number $1.4 billion lower than last year.
‘We’re not resting on our laurels. We have the updated F-150 coming,
and we have the Ranger coming.’
Despite those losses, Ford’s investment in trucks appears to be paying off. Fox Business reports that in a recent call with analysts, CEO Mark Fields continued to tout their importance to the automaker. Ford continues to pick up ground in the full size truck market, grabbing 1.5 percentage points in the first quarter to increase their market share to 38%.
“We’re not resting on our laurels,” Fields told analysts. “We have the updated F-150 coming in the fall, and we have the Ranger coming. We’re going to continue to reinforce this profit pillar and build out our moats around this.”
Even though those pretax profits dropped 42% for the quarter versus last year, Ford still beat Wall Street’s expectations as revenue increased 3.7%. It’s just further proof that sometimes, things aren’t exactly like they appear. And Ford’s decision to invest in their biggest cash cow appears to be paying off.
