Ford Pro Commercial Trucks to Make Up for Model e Losses

• Ford in the first quarter lost $722 million, compared with a first-quarter 2022 loss of $3.1 billion, which was tied mostly to Ford’s investment in Rivian.

• Ford Pro’s Q1 profit on work trucks was nearly three times the 2022 level, and gross revenue was up 28%, to $13.2 billion.

• CEO Jim Farley said Model e’s maturation to second-generation EV technology will help the unit reach break-even by year’s end, even as it expects to lose $3 billion for the year.

Ford Motor Co. in the first fiscal quarter lost $722 million of the $3 billion it warned last March it would lose on its Model e “startup” this year, while a thriving Ford Blue and a quickly growing Ford Pro unit more than offset that loss to earn $1.8 billion overall. That compares with a first-quarter 2022 loss of $3.1 billion, which was tied mostly to Ford’s investment in Rivian.

This is the first year Ford’s operations are split into its Blue business (Mustangs, F-150s, and other internal-combustion models), Pro (work trucks and vans), and Model e, which includes F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-e, but not E-Transit trucks.

“Ford Pro is developing into a resilient business,” CEO Jim Farley said in the company’s Q1 earnings call with Wall Street analysts. “It’s certainly less cyclical than the auto business.”

That led us to wonder whether the Ford e-Transit—which is accounted for in Pro and not Model e—also lost, or perhaps made money in the first quarter. Farley and Chief Financial Officer John Lawler in the call touted Pro’s growth and a 30% “attach rate” for aftermarket services on the commercial trucks.

Ford Pro’s Q1 profit was nearly three times the 2022 level, and gross revenue was up 28%, to $13.2 billion. Lawler said Ford Pro’s net income for the full year will “about double” over ’22 to $6 billion, just $1 billion short of what it expects from Blue’s gas-powered Mustangs, Broncos, Mavericks, and the like.