Aaron Brzozowski
Ford Europe is in the process of turning things around for the better.
In fact, as we reported back in February, Ford Motor Company last year made its first profit in Europe since 2011: a cool $259 million. That’s hardly a lot by major global automaker standards, of course, so to see how Ford Europe planned on continuing its march toward a healthy operating margin, the guys from The Detroit News’ Miked Up podcast reached out to Ford’s President of Europe, Middle East and Africa, Jim Farley.
Mr. Farley told the Miked Up hosts that Ford Europe is chasing an operating margin of six to eight percent, where the company is currently below one percent. That sounds ambitious, but perhaps attainable when one considers that Ford Europe moved up from number seven to number one in the commercial vehicle segment seemingly overnight, and that the automaker is continuing to invest smartly in the growing, high-margin SUV segment.
“I have to say: this is a magical time to be in Europe right now for a couple of reasons, but one of them is the market’s growing,” Mr. Farley said. “Because of the tough decisions… the company made several years ago – investing in product, getting our structure right, closing some of our facilities – we are in a really great position.”
For more on Ford Europe’s business health and the plan moving forward, be sure to listen to Miked Up episode 35 right here.
