Ford Motor Co. reported a bump in its pre-tax profits in the second quarter, despite recording lower total revenues because of fewer new-car sales, its decision to end production of two popular vehicles — Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair SUVs — and struggling with production of its F-Series due to a disruption in aluminum production by a supplier.
For the quarter, Ford reported its adjusted earnings before interest and taxes was $2.5 billion, up $400 million compared with $2.1 billion in the year-ago quarter. Revenue came in at $48.3 billion, down $1.9 billion from the previous year's quarter. Ford recorded a net loss in the quarter of $1.3 billion, down a full $1.3 billion compared with the year-ago quarter.
The steep decline to net income was
due to a $4.2 billion pre-tax special charge. Of that, $3.6 billion was a non-cash charge. It's connected to the previously announced disolving of Ford's BlueOval SK joint venture. About $500 million of the total charge is tied to cancellation of electric vehicle programs. Ford ended the Ford Lightning pickup as an all-electric pickup, to instead bring it back as an Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV). That means it has a generator on it to recharge it, giving it an estimated range of more than 700 miles and added charging capacity.
The automaker said its underlying core business remains strong with good product mix, stable pricing, improvement in its costs and continued consumer demand despite inflation and high interest rates. As a result, Ford raised its full-year guidance of earnings before interest and taxes by about $1 billion.
Ford CEO Jim Farley added that Ford is making strides on cost-controls and quality improvements.
“We delivered another strong quarter and raised our full-year guidance, but the more important story is thegrowing evidence that Ford is becoming a more profitable, more disciplined and genuinely different company,”Farley said in a statement. “Our iconic trucks, off-roaders and hybrids are commanding real pricing power; our quality is now industry-leading in the U.S.; and profitable new adjacencies, such as Ford Energy, are opening fresh sources of growth.”
Recovering from the fire
Ford had warned Wall Street earlier this year that its first-half pre-tax results would be lower than the second half due to its increased costs to secure aluminum for its F-Series pickups before production normalizes later in the year. Ford faced pickup production challenges to its highly-profitable F-Series after two fires last fall at its main aluminum supplier, Novelis, disrupted truck production. The supplier came back online in June and Ford is working to catch up on F-Series production.
Ford CFO Sherry House told the media that because of Ford having to import some aluminum and pay 50% tariffs on it, Ford's full-year expected net tariff costs should be "better than a billion" dollars. Ford had guided previously that its net tariff costs would be about $1 billion because it will capture some discounts due to its large domestic manufacturing base.
Ford beat Wall Street consensus. Bloomberg consensus had predicted Ford would report automotive revenue of $44.72 billion with adjusted EBIT of $2.15 billion. After its Q1 report, Ford raised full-year adjusted EBIT guidance to $8.5 billion to $10.5 billion from prior guidance of $8 billion to $10 billion.
This quarter, Ford raised the full-year financial guidance of adjusted EBIT again to $10 billion to $11 billion.
"This reflects the strength of our business, exciting products, driving strong mix and pricing, improved underlying costs, better quality, and consumer resilience to be expect to continue," House said of Ford's increased guidance.
Ford continues to lose money on EVs, but less than it had in the past. The Ford Model e EV unit had its third consecutive quarter of year-over-year profit improvement. The Ford Model e electric vehicle unit lost $919 million in the quarter, a narrower loss than the $1.3 billion it lost in the year-ago period.
Ford's U.S. sales in the quarterwere down 10.3%. Ford said that, excluding its end of production of the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair SUVs and a 69% cut in daily rental sales, second-quarter sales would have risen about 0.5%
Ford's look ahead
House said the company is improving the way it operates by sharpening its industrial system, fundamentally reducing costs, and partnering in global markets for speed and efficiency.
Morningstar autos analyst David Whiston told the Detroit Free Press on July 24 of Ford's challenges ahead that "their second half outlook should remain more positive than GM’s given Ford has F-Series wholesales to make up, but the Iran war is ramping up again, too."
Crosstown rival General Motors reported Q2 earnings on July 21 of a 29.8% boost to its adjusted pretax profits in the second quarter to $3.9 billion, but its net income took a 31% hit coming in at $1.3 billion compared with net income in the year-ago quarter, due largely to charges the automaker took to resolve supplier claims amid a smaller-than-expected electric vehicle market.
Stellantis is expected to report its second-quarter results on July 30.
Ford's key results by the numbers
Here are the numbers Ford reported on July 28 for its second quarter results:
- Net loss of $1.3 billion, compared with the prior year’s second-quarter net loss of $36 million.
- Total revenues of $48.3 Billion compared with $50.2 billion in second-quarter 2025.
- Full-year financial guidance of adjusted earnings before interest and taxes adjusted to $10 billion to $11 billion from previous guidance of $8.5 billion to $10.5 billion.
- Sales declined 10.3% in the second quarter compared with Q2 2025 and declined 9.6% in 2026’s first half.
- Adjusted earnings before income and taxes (EBIT) of $2.5 billion compared with $2.1 billion in the same quarter the prior year.
Ford’s traditional business operations, known as Ford Blue, earned $1.1 billion in EBIT compared with $661 million in the year-ago quarter. Its Ford Pro commercial business saw EBIT slide to $1.7 billion compared with $2.3 billion a year earlier as aluminum constraints hindered pickup production. Ford's Model e unit lost $919 million compared with a loss of $1.3 billion a year earlier.
Ford’s stock price ended the quarter on June 30 at $13.90 a share, up from $10.85 a share on June 30, 2025. Ford's closing stock price at the start of the quarter, April 1, was $11.68.
Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer for USA TODAY Co. who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ford reports Q2 results, sees upside as pickup production rebounds
