Ford posts encouraging loss, sells lots of Fiestas

Ford has posed a massive loss for the first quarter of 2009, but not quite as massive as everyone was expecting.

While General Motors and Chrysler have borrowed money from the US government, Ford has so far elected to go it alone. It announced a net loss of $1.4 billion during the first three months of this year, and saw its share price rise 15% as Wall Street smiled.

Most market analysts predicted a far poorer performance and the news is perhaps an indication that Ford is getting its act together as it tries to hang onto life without needing a bailout.

The Blue Oval’s sales fell by 43% and saw its revenues drop 37% compared with the same period in 2008. Nevertheless, the company’s chief financial officer, Lewis Booth, said he expects Ford to manage without government cash for the rest of the year and may even exceed the $4 billion cost-cutting target that it set itself for 2009.

Part of Ford’s better-than-anticpated performance is thanks to the new Fiesta. Newly on sale in the Middle East, the car has sold 250,000 units globally in just nine months, making it the fastest-selling Fiesta ever since its introduction in 1976.