Ford Quietly Gains Ground in Automotive Market

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Throughout the recession, as the American automotive landscape changed dramatically with the bankruptcies of both General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM) (Detroit, Michigan) and the Chrysler Group LLC (Auburn Hills, Michigan), Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) (Dearborn, Michigan) cruised along, keeping a low profile and doing business as usual while all of the focus was on its competitors.

Ford has slowly been gaining ground on GM in the all-important race for market share in North America. While Ford is not yet poised to attempt to take make a real fight for the No. 1 slot, a position that Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM) (Toyota City, Japan) has had to relinquish because of the devastation of March's earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Ford has continued to avoid any significant pitfalls and is nipping at GM's heels in the market share war.

On Tuesday, Ford posted its best first-quarter profit in 13 years, despite the problems with supplies coming out of Japan during much of March. Ford has not seen such solid first-quarter numbers since the SUV boom in the late 1990s, and while Ford is anything but flashy about how things are going, the news was a serious warning shot for the other automakers, indicating that Ford is ready and not satisfied with waiting for its shot at a larger piece of the automotive market.

Toyota's fall from grace over the past year, culminating in the recent events in Japan, has opened the door for both GM and Ford to make a move for the No. 1 spot in global sales. While conventional wisdom says that GM will take that position, Ford is making it known that it is a serious contender. Ford has indicated that has lost only 12,000 to 14,000 units of production because of the disaster in Japan and that it can easily make up those losses by the end of the year.

Ford does not anticipate additional delays in production as a result of supply shortages in the coming months, which places Ford in a very solid position to make its run for No. 1. The automaker is projecting that it will produce 710,000 vehicles in North America and 1.46 million vehicles worldwide during the second quarter, projections that have not decreased because of supply issues. This will put a huge amount of pressure on the other automakers to keep pace with Ford in the coming months.

For the first quarter, Ford posted an increase of $460 million increase in net income of $2.55 billion for the first quarter, compared to first quarter 2010's $2.09 billion. Revenue for the automaker increased from $28.1 billion to $33.1 billion during the quarter, $4 billion more than analysts had predicted. Profits rose 22% for the quarter for the automaker, again, against analyst predictions.

The increases across the board have proven that Ford is doing things right and that the vision that has driven the company over the past few years is the correct one. Ford has been content to let the other major automakers be more public about their fight for the top slot, all the while slowly gaining market share, taking a bit here and a bit there from competitors. The disaster in Japan presents the largest opportunity to take a huge piece of the market share from Toyota, and Ford will certainly take advantage of its competitor's bad fortune. Ford has poised itself well for the coming months of shakeup within the automotive sector, as the long term effects of the tsunami and earthquakes work themselves out. Judging by its first-quarter profits, Ford has positioned itself incredibly well to boost its place in the automotive world before the end of the year.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. IIR's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.