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Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F)
Q4 2023 Earnings Call
Feb 06, 2024, 5:00 p.m. ET
Key Takeaways from Q4 2023 Earnings Call
Ford Motor Company’s Q4 2023 earnings call kicked off with high expectations as investors eagerly awaited insights into the company’s performance. The call, hosted by Lynn Atipas Tyson, head of investor relations, witnessed exhilarating discussions and presentations from top brass executives, shedding light on the company’s profound achievements and ambitious outlook.
Prepared Remarks
Operator
Good afternoon, and welcome to the Ford Motor Company 2023 fourth quarter financial results conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. [Operator instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Lynn Atipas Tyson, head of investor relations.
Please go ahead.
Lynn Tyson — Executive Director, Investor Relations
Thank you, Gary, and welcome to Ford Motor Company’s fourth quarter 2023 earnings call With me today are Jim Farley, president and CEO; and John Lawler, chief financial officer. Also joining us for Q&A is Marion Harris, CEO of Ford Credit; Kumar Galhotra, COO of Ford; and Marin Gjaja, COO of Model e. Today’s discussion includes some non-GAAP references.
These are reconciled to the most comparable U.S. GAAP measures in the appendix of our earnings deck. You can find the deck along with the rest of our earning materials and other important content at shareholder.ford.com. Our discussion also includes forward-looking statements about our expectations.
Jim Farley — President and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Lynn. And hi, everyone. Thanks for joining us. Last year turned out to be a fundamental year — a foundational year for our company.
A Glitch Interrupts, But The Show Goes On
Operator
Pardon me, this is the conference operator. We’ve seen that we’ve lost audio from the speakers’ location. Please stand by as we regain the signal. Pardon me, this is the conference operator.
We have rejoined the audio with the main speaker location. Sir, please continue.
Jim Farley — President and Chief Executive Officer
Hi, everyone. I’m not sure where we got cut off but I want to just highlight how important last year was, not only financially but a foundational year for our team. Our power choice and our powertrains really came through, and you can really see that on the F-Series, which I’ll talk about in a second. Our global hybrid sales were up 20% last year, and we expect them to be up 40% this year.
We’re now the No. 1 and No. 2 best-selling hybrid trucks in the U.S. Maverick is No.
1. And we’re the No. 3 hybrid brand in the U.S. behind Toyota and Honda.
But unlike them, our hybrids really sell best on trucks for our side. We launched some awesome tech. BlueCruise just passed 150 million miles of hand-free use. But more importantly, the growth is up 25% quarter over quarter.
And the gross margins for BlueCruise are at 70%-plus, the same for Ford Pro Intelligence. And, boy, can Ford do work vehicles. The new Super Duty and Transit are off to great starts as is the new Ranger. We are really focused as a team on the segmentation.
Strength Amid Challenges
Despite facing challenges, such as the UAW strike, Ford Motor Company’s auto profits surged year over year, demonstrating the resilience and adaptability of the company’s strategy. The company marked a triumphant return to investment grade and exhibited substantial improvement in ROIC and capital discipline. The effort devoted to enhancing the industrial system, spearheaded by Kumar Galhotra, bore fruitful results, amplifying a relentless emphasis on quality and cost efficiency.
The international operations, following a taxing restructuring phase, achieved a remarkable turnaround, with two consecutive years of profits. Notably, the astonishing success of the Ranger, ascending to become a global juggernaut, symbolizes the company’s unwavering prowess in the global market.