Fire at aluminum supplier Novelis impacts Ford - Financial damage and effects

Just that too! Ford Loses Additional Billions Due to Fire in Aluminum Plant

2025-10-27 Source: dpa 2 min Reading Time

At Novelis, an aluminum supplier for Ford, there was a fire in a plant in the state of New York in September. This is now really hitting the pocket...

Supply gap looms! Ford's F-150 truck is very popular in the USA. Many former components have been replaced with aluminum. However, there was a fire at Novelis, the supplier of the lightweight metal. This, along with other problems, is now really hitting the pocket...(Image: Ford) — Supply gap looms! Ford's F-150 truck is very popular in the USA. Many former components have been replaced with aluminum. However, there was a fire at Novelis, the supplier of the lightweight metal. This, along with other problems, is now really hitting the pocket...
(Image: Ford)

In addition to the business problems caused by the Trump administration's import tariffs, US auto giant Ford now faces further challenges following the fire at aluminum manufacturer Novalis, according to reports. This primarily affects the production of the F-150 truck, which will be slowed down for months. Due to supply bottlenecks, it is estimated that costs of 1.5 to 2 billion dollars will be incurred, Ford announced during the presentation of its quarterly figures. However, by 2026, production of the popular F-Series pickups in the US is set to increase by 50,000 vehicles. By the way, Trump's aggressive trade policy with new import tariffs reduced Ford's earnings before interest and taxes by 700 million dollars (approximately 603 million euros) in the last quarter. Despite these challenges, Ford significantly exceeded market expectations.

Tariff Reduction Halves Tax Burdens for Ford

Revenue at Ford, it is further reported, rose by nine percent (to 50.5 billion dollars). For earnings in the automotive division, analysts had expected an average of just over 43 billion dollars, but the company managed to reach 47.2 billion dollars. Quarterly profit jumped from 900 million dollars (2024) to a substantial 2.4 billion dollars now. Since the US government reduced import tariffs for manufacturers producing in the US, Ford now expects a burden of "only" around one billion dollars from the duties this year. Previously, the forecast was two billion dollars.

But Ford is in the Red With Electric Cars

The company continues to lose a lot of money due to the struggling electric vehicle business, as reported. In the past quarter, the division had to absorb an operating loss of 1.4 billion dollars. However, Ford compensated by earning 1.54 billion dollars from models with combustion engines and nearly two billion from commercial vehicles. Regarding the supply of lightweight aluminum, Ford is now working with Novelis and other partners to close the supply gap as quickly as possible. The automaker had replaced heavy steel with aluminum in many of its large vehicle models to reduce weight and thus fuel consumption.

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