DALLAS – Ford Motor Co. reported that it lost $3.1 billion in the first quarter, weighed down by its investment in an electric-vehicle startup, and its revenue slid as a shortage of chips limited the supply of pickups and SUVs in North America.
Company executives pointed away from the loss and toward results that excluded the lower value of its stake in Rivian. Ford said that it made $2.3 billion in pretax profit and is still on track to hit its full-year target for that measurement.
Ford said according to AP that it sold 966,000 vehicles in the first quarter, down 9% from a year earlier.
Chief Financial Officer John Lawler said the quarter produced mixed results.
“Clearly the demand for our new products is very strong,” Lawler said, “yet we continue to have issues with supply of chips, which constrained us, and in particular here in North America, it hit us disproportionately on our large vehicles.”
The chip shortage has caused Ford and General Motors to close multiple North American factories for a week or two at a time, including plants that build popular full-size pickups.
Ford executives said they also faced inflationary pressure from suppliers, but have been able to recover that in higher vehicles prices. They said additional increases were possible if inflation continues to run high.
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