Company announces first profitable quarter since 2008
Ford Motor Company announced on Monday it had turned a $1 billion profit in the third quarter of this year. The company says reduced costs, market share gains, and a lineup of products that proved popular in Europe and the Americas led to the turn around. Ford is the only major car company in North America that managed to avoid bankruptcy while refusing government bailout money, though it may have still benefited from Washington’s stimulus programs. The Ford Focus and Escape were two of the top five sellers in the U.S. cash for clunkers program, which gave consumers up to nearly $5,000 for trade-ins toward the purchase of a new car. Still, despite the profit, Ford’s earnings were about $800 million lower then the previous year.