Ford will post a profit in Europe in 2006, buoyed by increasing revenue, higher vehicle sales and lower costs, Ford of Europe president and chief executive John Fleming said on Wednesday.
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“My expectation is profit in 2006,” Fleming told Reuters on the sidelines of the Geneva motor show, though he declined to give a detailed forecast.
“We have got new vehicles. That will help us to grow profit and revenues,” Fleming reportedly said. “Underpinning all that is a laser focus on costs.”
Reuters noted that Ford of Europe, which is battling high commodity prices and stiff competition, posted a pre-tax profit of US$136m in 2005, up from a pre-tax profit of $114m the previous year, while revenue reached $30.2bn.
Fleming told the news agency Ford could see its sales grow in Europe this year from the 1.49m vehicles sold last year though volatile oil prices and the soft UK vehicle market remained concerns.
Jim Padilla, Ford’s president and chief operating officer, told Reuters the automaker’s European operation is on the road to recovery because of the implementation of tough measures, which included aligning manufacturing capacity with demand.
“The strategy we have in the US is comparable” to the measure taken in Europe, he reportedly said. “It is going to take a little while.”
