Due to a supplier disruption and an unexpectedly high tariff hit, Ford posted lower-than-expected fourth-quarter operating results on Tuesday.
When the EV expenditures were taken out of the equation, the large US manufacturer, which had earlier indicated a loss for the last quarter of 2025 because of more than $14 billion in write-downs in the electric vehicle program, announced lower-than-expected earnings.
With $45.9 billion in revenue, Ford lost $11.1 billion, a 5% decrease from the same period last year.
Excluding one-time items, Ford’s earnings came in at 13 cents per share, six cents shy of analyst expectations.
Ford incurred some $900 million more in tariff costs for 2025 following a late-December determination by the Trump administration limiting a provision to mitigate levies on imported auto parts.
As a result, Ford ended up with a $2 billion tariff hit for all of 2025, compared with an earlier forecast of $1 billion, said Chief Financial Officer Sherry House.
Two fires at the Novelis Oswego aluminum facility in upstate New York in October and November also hurt Ford’s sales volumes, costing the company an additional $2 billion this year.
The site’s hot mill is half functioning, according to House. “We’ve got people on the ground there and know exactly what is going on and where things stand,” House said during a conference call with reporters, adding that the facility should be completely operational by mid-2026? “We have contingency plans to secure the sufficient supply for the hot mill from various sources.”
While Ford expects some costs associated with US President Donald Trump’s tariffs to mitigate in 2026, the company anticipates a larger hit from importing aluminum due to Trump levies on the metal, House said.
Ford projected 2026 adjusted earnings of between $8 and $10 billion, up from $6.8 billion in 2025 and in line with analyst expectations.
