Ford president and CEO Jim Farley has said the firm “should have done much better” after it posted losses of $2.0 billion (£1.6bn) in 2022.
“We left about $2bn in profits on the table that were within our control,” Farley said.
On the firm’s Q4 earnings call, he added: “To say I am frustrated is an understatement because the year could have been so much more for us.”
Ford attributed the overall loss to special items (one-off costs), including a $7.4bn (£6.0bn) net loss on its investment in EV start-up Rivian, which it has almost completed the “monetisation” (sale) of.
The $2.7bn (£2.2bn) loss incurred by the collapse of Argo AI – which saw Ford lose $827 million (£676m) in the third quarter – was also a factor.
Ford generated $158bn (£129bn) in revenue through the full year, including $44bn (£36bn) during the fourth quarter.
The company attributed these results – which fell below its expectations – to execution problems amid supply chain and manufacturing instabilities (such as the semiconductor shortage). This increased costs and reduced production output, Ford said in a statement.
Chief financial officer John Lawler said the firm will accelerate its cost-cutting efforts: it previously planned to slash $3bn (£2.5b) from its outgoings by the middle of the decade but will now reduce “a considerable amount more”.
Lawler’s plans to make “very aggressive” cuts – “everything’s on the table” – come after German trade union IG Metall warned Ford will cut up to 3200 jobs in Europe as it shifts development work to the US.
It has also been widely reported that Chinese giant BYD is in talks to buy the Ford Focus factory in Germany (at Saarlouis), which is due to end production of the hatchback in 2025. Ford of Europe head Stuart Rowley previously told journalists that “we don't have in our planning cycle an additional model that goes into Saarlouis”, hinting at the plant becoming a redundant asset.
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