As the chip shortage continues, the companies and businesses across the globe are facing the heat. Auto giant Ford has recently reported a drop in the fourth quarter earnings. The drop in the earnings was not expected, but the company has hopes that it would see a better road ahead in 2022. Ford reported a drop while excluding special items of $1.1 billion that was down by $1.4 billion on the same basis a year back.
At the same time it was noticed that the revenue at the company had went up by 5 percent in the quarter to $37.7 billion despite the fact that the number of cars that were sold across the globe had gone down by 11 percent to 1.1 million. The chip shortage continues to affect the auto industry across the globe and has also forced a number of the companies to temporarily shut down its factories or limit production during the quarter. As a result the inventory of the new vehicles were on a very limited supply for the customers, who were left with seldom choices.
This also led to the car priced reach record high and also left the auto makers to reduce the need to offer incentives that would attract the buyers. Despite the current scenario, the analysts believe that the company would soon be able to match with some of its rivals like General Motors and would also increase its profitability despite the supply chain problems. Ford is also facing a progress outside North America and the company officials said that they were happy with the results that they had managed due to the crisis they faced this quarter.
Jim Farley the CEO said that as the COVID crisis continues, their overall business continues to look in a great shape. Farley added that the problem of chip supply and other supply chain problems are expected to be resolved or improve throughout the year.
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