DETROIT — Ford Motor's fourth-quarter net income fell to $1.3 billion because of continued supply chain struggles, and CEO Jim Farley blamed the automaker's annual loss on poor execution.
For all of 2022, Ford lost $2 billion, and the company's adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of $10.4 billion was more than a billion lower than what it forecast. Farley promised better results in 2023, which he described as a "pivotal year” for the automaker.
"To say I am frustrated is an understatement because the year could have been so much more for us at Ford," Farley said on an earnings call with analysts late Thursday. "We have deeply entrenched issues in our industrial system that have proven tough to root out. Candidly, the strength of our products and revenue has masked this dysfunctionality for a long time."
Ford must decide how many employees it needs in Europe, Farley said on an earnings call on Thursday. The company will decide soon on how to restructure its European business, he said.
Ford told unions last month it will cut up to 2,500 jobs in Europe, mostly in Germany, where it is ending production of the Focus compact car at its factory in Saarloius and converting its Cologne plant into an EV factory.
Farley said Ford left about $2 billion of profits on the table last year.
Ford CFO John Lawler said roughly half of those unrealized profits are due to missed volume targets, while the other half is related to costs, noting that Ford needed "better execution and better supply chain management."
Ford’s fourth-quarter net income fell 89 percent from the same period a year earlier, when an investment in Rivian boosted profits significantly.