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Ford 2Q profit drops 86% as it restructures overseas

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Ford's net profit tumbled 86% in the second quarter due largely to restructuring costs in Europe and South America. Net income for the April-through-June period dropped to $148 million, or 4 cents per share. Without the charges the company made 28 cents per share. Revenue was flat at $38.9 billion. On average, analysts surveyed by FactSet expected earnings 31 cents per share on revenue of $38.49 billion. Chief Financial Officer Tim Stone says the company had charges of $1.2 billion as it moved to close factories in Europe and South America. He says Ford already is seeing an impact from its global fitness measures that included a reduction of 7,000 white-collar workers. Ford, which released numbers after the markets closed Wednesday, says its results include a $181 million valuation loss on an investment in a software company, trimming 4 cents off adjusted earnings per share. Its stock fell 6.3% in after-hours trading to $9.68. Stone said Ford is in the early stages of its restructuring, but already is seeing improvement in some regions. Free cash flow also improved by 80% to $2.1 billion in the first half of the year, he said. "We're already starting to see some early benefits," he said. "A lot of work to do." The company expects improvement in the second half of the year as more new big SUVs hit dealerships and more of the restructuring takes hold. Ford on Wednesday forecast pretax adjusted earnings of $7 billion to $7.5 billion for all of 2019, compared with $7 billion last year. The company previously had only said that pretax earnings would improve. Full-year adjusted earnings per share are forecast to be $1.20 to $1.35, up from $1.30 in 2018. Previously it did not give per-share guidance. Ford's U.S. sales fell nearly 5% in the second quarter, according to the Edmunds.com auto pricing site, as the company exited most of its passenger car business. But Stone said sales of the new Ford Ranger small pickup offset much of that as its share of the small truck segment rose 14%. Edmunds, which provides content for The Associated Press, said Ford's average vehicle sale price rose 2.8% to $41,328 during the quarter. In North America, Ford's biggest profit center, pretax earnings fell 3% to just under $1.7 billion, which the company blamed on switching its Chicago factory to build new versions of midsize SUVs.

2020 Lincoln Aviator Review and Buying Guide | All-American sophistication

The new 2020 Lincoln Aviator lands into one of the hottest luxury segments – three-row family crossovers – and is not only an incredibly relevant product, but a fully competitive and appealing one too. It all starts with a uniquely characterful interior that's likely to earn the Aviator a fair share of takers by itself. Then there's the exterior styling, which is long and sleek with a tapered roofline courtesy of new rear-wheel-drive architecture developed in concert for the Aviator and also-new Ford Explorer. The two vehicles share common bones, but the skin and muscle are quite different. Emphasis on muscle, too, because the Aviator's powertrain options utterly blow away its competition (a 400-horsepower turbo V6 and the Grand Touring's 494-hp plug-in hybrid). However, despite those eye-popping performance numbers, don't expect the Aviator to be a firm-riding, sport-tuned SUV. All that power is there if you need it, but it's part of an overall competent, composed driving experience rather than one thatÂ’s tightly wound and over-caffeinated. Frankly, it's a recipe that should make a lot of sense to American luxury buyers. If you're looking for a big, luxurious family vehicle, put it on your shopping list. What's new for 2020? The Aviator is an all-new model that slots into a previously unfilled slot in the Lincoln lineup between the five-passenger Nautilus and full-size, truck-based Navigator. 2020 Lincoln Aviator Interior View 9 Photos What's the interior and in-car technology like? No other company's interiors look anything like the mid-century-inspired palace of cool you get in the Aviator. All versions are available with distinctive color schemes shown above, but the Black Label trim level stands out the most with its three available "themes" of "Chalet," "Flight" and "Destination" that get special colors and trim types. Perhaps the quality of some plastics and the fit-and-finish aren't up to Mercedes or BMW levels, but everything looks so special that it makes up whatever deficit exists. Most competitors just seem drab and generic by comparison. In terms of technology, every 2020 Aviator comes standard with a 10-inch touchscreen mounted so high on the dash and close to the driver that it actually seems larger. It runs the Lincoln-skinned version of Ford's Sync 3 interface, which is generally user friendly, though it perhaps doesn't look as cool and sophisticated as the all-digital gauge cluster (or the interfaces of rivals).

Report: Lincoln getting all of Mercury's ad dollars

Now that the curtain has closed on Mercury, Ford Motor Company will redirect all of its marketing dollars for the oft-overlooked brand to the Blue Oval's luxury outpost, Lincoln. In speaking to Automotive News, the chairman of the Lincoln National Dealer Council, Bob Tasca, Jr., said, "You'll see a lot stronger presence in the advertising of Lincoln in 2011."
Lincoln spokesperson Christian Bokich reminded AN that the automaker is "preparing the way for seven new or significantly refreshed vehicles" that will be launched over the next four years, and the largest ad blitz in 2011 will focus on the refreshed MKX crossover, as well as the MKZ sedan and its hybrid counterpart. Following that, Lincoln has plans to launch a completely overhauled version of its Navigator SUV, an all-new C-segment vehicle and the overhauled 2013 MKZ, which Tasca says will be "strikingly different from its Ford Fusion sibling."
[Source: Automotive News - sub. req. | Image: John Neff/Autoblog/AOL]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments