On Thursday, local time, Ford Motor Company (Ford Motor) reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results and announced that the company would invest $29 billion in electric cars and self-driving by 2025.
Specifically, Ford said the plan would include an investment of $7 billion in self-driving systems and more than $22 billion in electric vehicles, but not all the money announced to invest in electric vehicles was new. The company has also included about $7 billion in upfront investment since 2016, with Ford's new investment commitment of $10.5 billion.
Ford also said that most of the cars under the plan would be all-electric, but it also has hybrid and plug-in hybrid models, which will continue to use traditional internal combustion engines.
"Ford's transformation is taking place, and so is our leadership in the electric vehicle revolution and self-driving development," Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a press release.
After the glorious "year of Tesla", traditional auto giants have recently begun to invest heavily to enter the field of electric cars and self-driving in order to meet the huge challenges brought by Tesla. GM (General Motors) announced last year that it plans to increase spending on all-electric and self-driving vehicles to $27 billion between 2020 and 2025, and Wall Street has been waiting for Ford to invest more in these emerging technologies.
On Thursday, Ford also released its fourth-quarter results, which were mixed. Ford reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 34 cents, a better-than-expected loss of 7 cents, and fourth-quarter revenue of $33.2 billion, slightly below market expectations of $33.89 billion.
It is worth noting that Ford Chief Financial Officer John Lawler also said on the same day that by 2021, the company is expected to achieve a profit of $8 billion to $9 billion (adjusted pre-tax profit) and $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion in adjusted free cash flow. But at the same time, he also said the shortage of semiconductor chips could reduce Ford's profit by $1 billion to $2.5 billion this year.
"the situation in the semiconductor market is constantly changing, so it is too early to predict the impact on our full-year results," Lawler said in an official press release. At present, supplier estimates indicate that our production may be reduced by 10% to 20% in the first quarter. "
Ford shares soared as much as 4% in after-hours trading on Thursday before leveling off to about $11.40, up less than 1%.
