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Updated Wednesday, February 7, 2024-02:05

Ford

obtained

net profits of 4,329 million dollars

(about 4,025 million euros) in 2023, after losing 2,152 million the previous year, with an 11% increase in its income that reached 176,191 million dollars and greater

profitability of the vehicles with combustion engines

.

Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (ebit) stood at $10,416 million, the same figure as in 2022.

Ford Blue

, the unit responsible for the production and sale of vehicles with combustion engines,

increased its revenues by 8%

(above the 3% increase in sales) to $101.9 billion and achieved an ebit of $7.462 billion , which represents a margin of 7.3%.

Meanwhile,

revenue at Ford Pro

, which provides commercial vehicles as well as services to businesses, increased 19% to $58.1 billion with ebit of $7.222 billion, a margin of 12.4%.

Ford Model e

, which produces and markets electric vehicles (EVs), continued to accumulate losses even though its sales and revenue increased by 20% and 12%, respectively.

Ford Model and generated 5.9 billion dollars but accumulated a negative EBIT of 4.701 million dollars, almost double that of 2022.

In a conference call with analysts and the media,

Ford's president and CEO, Jim Farley

, assured that, at this time, what is important is the number of EVs sold and that the electric vehicle segment needs patience.

"It's going to take longer than we expected 18 months ago. But we're seeing big geographic variations in adoption," Farley said.

Farley also said

hybrid vehicles "are going to play an increasingly important role"

in the sector's transition from combustion vehicles to EVs, in part because they offer similar profit margins to gasoline cars that are "much higher." higher than the margins of electric vehicles.

"The journey to EVs is inevitable for us and we have a bright future in electric vehicles," Farley concluded.

At another point in the conference call, Ford's chief executive insisted that the company

is focused on reducing the cost of electric vehicles.

"We need the electric business to stand on its own. And we have to be profitable because we know our competitors (in China and Tesla) are," Farley said.

Despite the losses from electric vehicles,

Ford CFO John Lawler said in a statement that it is a good investment for the company.

"The information we are getting from customers by being one of the pioneers of pickup trucks, SUVs and electric commercial vehicles is invaluable, especially as we develop the next generation of EVs that are going to wow customers and be profitable one year after its launch," he explained.

In the final quarter of the year, which was affected by

the six-week United Auto Workers (UAW) strike,

Ford posted a net loss of $526 million even as its revenue rose 4% to $46 billion. Dollars.

Ford linked last quarter's figures for an accounting charge of about $1.7 billion to changes in its workers' pension and benefit plans.

The company also said Tuesday that it expects 2024 ebit to be between $10 billion and $12 billion.

Ford announced this Tuesday a regular dividend in the first quarter of 15 cents per share and another supplemental dividend of 18 cents per share.

Lawler said "the goal is to improve adjusted return on invested capital from 14% in 2023 to around 20% over the next two years."