Bloomberg Hot Pursuit! · Oct 30, 2026 · 49m · 41m saved
With Sherry House, CFO of Ford · Craig Trudell, Global Business Managing Editor at Bloomberg
Photo via fortune.com
Ford sold 9% fewer vehicles in its latest quarter and still raised its adjusted operating profit 3%, to $2.7 billion. Sherry House, CFO of Ford, told Bloomberg Hot Pursuit! that the gain came from selling more trucks, SUVs, vans and off-road models, which now bring in a quarter of Ford's revenue.
Rival automakers are crowding into the US as Chinese competition squeezes their margins elsewhere. Sherry described a US market where Ford can still sell more of its higher-priced products, helped in part by wealthier buyers who feel richer from the AI-driven stock market.
"As a result, we raised the low end of our full-year adjusted EBIT guide and we are now guiding at $10.5 billion to $11 billion." — Sherry House
As Ford's chief financial officer, Sherry is the executive who sets that guidance and answers for the company's cost targets, including about $2 billion of commodity, chip and logistics pressure she sees heading into 2027.
The full episode is covered here so you can skip it. 49 minutes of audio, 8 minutes of reading.
Here are the 9 numbers that matter.
Key Takeaways
Off-road models such as Bronco, Raptor and Tremor are 25% of Ford's revenue
Ford raised the low end of its full-year adjusted EBIT guidance to $10.5B-$11B despite a 9% volume decline
Parts and software services hit a record and now make up 10% of revenue
Ford's wealthier buyers read stock-market strength as a reason to buy, and Sherry ties part of that to AI investment
Commodities, chips and logistics could cost Ford about $2B heading into 2027
Ford's next battery-electric model, the Fathom, will start under $30,000
Bloomberg's Craig Trudell says no automaker, Tesla included, has an answer for Chinese EV makers
1. No Answer for China
Before the Ford interview, Matt Miller, who hosts Hot Pursuit! for Bloomberg, reviewed the auto sector's earnings with Craig Trudell, Bloomberg's global business managing editor. Craig said the industry's central problem has changed.
Craig says Chinese EV makers now outcompete every rival on scale and cost
"I think it's gone from nobody having an answer for Tesla to nobody, including Tesla, having an answer for the Chinese." — Craig Trudell
Craig also said legacy automakers are still valued as old-style industrial companies, whatever they say about becoming tech firms. Tesla is the exception.
"Tesla, of course, is not valued as a carmaker. They're valued for all of the autonomous driving and robotics sort of hype that Musk has built." — Craig Trudell
Matt raised a risk for truck makers: they are benefiting from AI data-center construction, which needs fleets of work trucks. Craig agreed that a deflating AI boom would be "a big cause for concern," and noted that Ford is also trying to sell its battery capacity for energy storage tied to data-center power demand.
