GM and Ford Grow Ever-More Dependent on Declining Home Market
- North American units supply nearly all the carmakers’ profits
- Both companies have cut U.S. auto industry sales forecasts
General Motors Co. (GM) Chevrolet vehicles.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
For General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co., home is where the profits are. That’s a source of heartburn as U.S. auto sales stall.
Ford Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks put it plainly when explaining his company’s quarterly financial results Wednesday: “Effectively, every dollar we earned in the automotive segment was earned in North America.” It’s a similar story at GM, which reported all but about $200 million of adjusted profit came from the region.