Fresh tires

26 April 2019 By Antony Currie Follow @AntonyMCurrie

The $37 bln automaker has raced past first-quarter estimates, thanks to pickup trucks and promised cost cuts. That suggests some of CEO Jim Hackett’s fixes are starting to gel. Now he needs demonstrable progress on electrification and autonomous driving too.

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Ford Motor reported first-quarter earnings of $1.1 billion. At 44 U.S. cents a share after adjusting for some special items, the result compares with the mean estimate of sell-side analysts of 27 cents a share, according to Refinitiv data. Revenue was $40.3 billion, compared with the mean estimate of just shy of $37.1 billion.

On April 24, Ford said it had agreed to invest $500 million in Rivian, a 10-year-old Michigan-based firm that builds electric trucks. In February, Amazon led a $700 million investment round in Rivian. General Motors had also been in discussions about taking a stake.

Ford is also discussing a potential partnership on electric and autonomous vehicles with Volkswagen.

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