Commodity pricing pulls millions off Ford’s profit

Following a "challenging" 12 months, Ford management faced a grilling from analysts seeking greater clarity into the company's much-touched fitness programme. While sales volumes are up, so too are incentives. Much more worrying, though, are the headwinds from higher commodity prices and unfavourable exchange rates, which were the key forces behind the US$395m decline in fourth-quarter (Q4) adjusted pre-tax profit, which dropped to US$1.7bn.