DETROIT, MI – Ford Motor Co.’s net income fell 6 percent to $924 million in the first quarter, the Dearborn automaker reported Tuesday. It was the 23rd consecutive quarter of profitability for the Blue Oval, but still came in below Wall Street expectations.
Still, the company reaffirmed its outlook for a strong, pre-tax profit for 2015 of $8.5-9.5 billion. In the first quarter, the company’s pre-tax profit rose 2 percent to $1.4 billion. Revenues dipped 6 percent to $33.9 billion.
The company said its revenues and wholesale volumes fell because of new product launches. In the first quarter, it launched three of the 15 new vehicles it plans to release this year.
Ford launched 25 new products in 2014, including the highly-anticipated, all-new, aluminum-bodied F-150.
“After the transition year of 2014, Ford was looking for 2015 to be the breakthrough year, but the turn has not yet occurred,” said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst at Autotrader.com.
Krebs added that Ford’s first quarter vehicle sales wee below the overall market increase, causing the Dearborn company to lose some market share stateside. Sales of the F-Series, the top-selling vehicle of all automakers in the U.S., remained soft.