Ford lost $3.88 per share in the April-June quarter, compared with net profit of $750 million, or 31 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.
The net loss included $8.03 billion in write-downs because of the sharp decline in US truck and sport utility vehicle sales. Ford's second-quarter revenue was $38.6 billion, down $5.6 billion from the year-ago period.
Ford is trying to save itself by quickly morphing from a truck company into a car company. But the help from Europe won't arrive until 2010: It takes time to retool US plants, and importing the cars directly is too costly.
Industry watchers wonder whether Ford has enough cash to survive until then.
"You have the gap before the plan can be fully executed," said Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting for J.D. Power and Associates. "You kind of have to weather the conditions, and . . . the fact that you're still the old company in transition."
Ford has successfully sold cars in Europe for years, and it made billions of dollars selling trucks to Americans. But US drivers have recoiled this year from high gas prices in favor of smaller cars.
Most of the European models will be built in North America. The Fiesta subcompact will be built in Mexico, the European Focus will be built in Kentucky and Michigan, and the Transit Connect small van will be imported from Turkey.
Ford won't identify the other three. But analysts are betting on the Kuga, a small crossover vehicle, and the C-Max small van, both of built on the same underpinnings as the European Focus.
Ford also could bring its Mondeo mid-size car from Europe to replace the Fusion and Mercury Milan.
Past efforts by US automakers to bring in European cars have flopped, but Ford CEO Alan Mulally said the US market is vastly different today; with gas at $4, consumers are cleaning showrooms out of small cars.
"They want the vehicles to be neat and have a lot of features," Mulally told reporters and industry analysts yesterday on a conference call.
