Ford Motor forecasts $1 bln profit improvement at Michigan truck plant
DETROIT, April 17 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co said on Wednesday a planned shift in production at a Michigan plant to trucks from less profitable cars will lead to an improvement of more than $1 billion in operating earnings.
The increase in earnings, before interest and taxes, in 2021 compared with 2017 is due to the shift at the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, from the C-Max hybrids and Focus compact cars to the Ranger mid-sized pickup truck and Bronco SUV, Ford said. The Ranger went on sale in January and the Bronco will be launch next year.
The information was disclosed in slides prepared for a presentation that Ford's Jim Baumbick, vice president of enterprise product line management, is making at a Bank of America Merrill Lynch conference in New York on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Ben Klayman; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
