Ford CEO reports $2 billion loss in profits in 2022, falling short of expectations

Ford Motor Co. announced Thursday that the company fell short of its expectations in the fourth quarter and last year, reporting that it lost $2 billion in profits.

In a press release published Thursday, Ford CEO Jim Farley said that the company should have done “much better” in 2022. The press release said that in 2022, the company’s net loss was $2 billion that was attributable to “special items.”

“We should have done much better last year,” Farley said. “We left about $2 billion in profits on the table that were within our control, and we’re going to correct that with improved execution and performance.”

The company’s earnings before interest and taxes for the year came to $10.4 billion, which the press release stated fell short of Ford’s expectations, citing supply chain issues as a contributor.

“The results were below Ford’s expectations, attributable, in part, to execution issues in an environment with supply chain and production instability, resulting in higher costs and lower-than-planned volumes,” the press release states.

Ford’s fourth-quarter earnings also fell short of company’s expectations, as it reported $2.6 billion in earnings before interest and taxes, the press release said. It said that the company’s revenue was $44 billion, which was a 17 percent increase from the third quarter.

As the company looks toward 2023, it’s expecting to earn $9 billion to $11 billion in adjusted earnings before interest and taxes based on “seasonally adjusted annual rates of about 15 million vehicles in the U.S. and about 13 million in Europe.”

Bloomberg reported that Ford will be pushing more cost-cutting measures, and is aiming to eliminate more than the $3 billion in annualized expenses — the company’s previous mid-decade target. According to the report, Chief Financial Officer John Lawler said that more job cuts are soon to come.

Ford announced in July that it would cut up to 8,000 jobs in its push for more electric vehicles. In 2021, Ford said that it would increase its electric vehicle production to 600,000 cars by 2023.