Ford Posts Optimistic 2023 Outlook

Ford Motor Co. reported a 0.5% decrease in U.S. new vehicle sales for November as the automaker worked to restart plants affected by the United Auto Workers’ strike.

The company also reported:

• Electric vehicle sales jumped 43.2% to 8,958 units from a year ago.
• Truck sales slipped 2.8% to 78,971 units in the same period.
• Total sales for November were 145,559, compared with 146,364 units in November 2022.

Ford withdrew 2023 financial guidance in late October, during the strike. With a new labor agreement in place, the company also updated its financial expectations.

A Ford press release noted that even with the strike having an estimated $1.7 billion impact, the company’s outlook remains strong and includes plans to generate both growth and value.

Ford CFO John Lawler said Ford expects adjusted earnings before interest and taxes for 2023 to be between $10 and $10.5 billion, which includes lost profits from the strike and because of reduced production of high-margin trucks and SUVs, 100,000 fewer vehicle wholesales.

Still, the automaker reported it generated $4.9 billion of net income and $9.4 billion in adjusted earnings before interest and taxes through the first three quarters of the year, before the strike. The expected adjusted free cash flow for the entirety of 2023 is expected to fall between $5 and $5.5 billion, it said.

Lawler emphasized the automaker's intention to forge ahead with the Ford+ plan, seeing a technology transformation ahead industrywide.

“This industry is going through the biggest technology-led transformation we’ve ever seen and some companies, new and old, are going to be left behind,” Lawler said in a statement. “Ford+ is the right strategy to win—we’ve got a highly talented team that allocates capital with great discipline, so that we’re executing with consistency, generating strong growth and profitability, and are less cyclical.”

He described how Ford’s customer-centered businesses—Ford Blue for gas and hybrid vehicles, Ford Model e for electric vehicles, and Ford Pro for commercial customers—provide for transparency, flexibility, accountability, disciplined capital allocation and increasingly differentiated performance. Customers of all three of the businesses will benefit from Ford’s emerging software and services capabilities, he said.

.

Originally posted on Auto Dealer Today