Ford Motor said its profit will fall by about 50% in the current quarter, due to weakness in the auto industry that’s already been reported by rivals such as General Motors.
The guidance sent Ford shares down about 1.1% in early trading. Shares of Ford rivals GM, Fiat Chrysler and Toyota were also lower.
Ford said it expects sales to decline worldwide. Ford had reported a slight increase in global sales last year, as gains in the Asia-Pacific region offset declines in the U.S. market and elsewhere.
But now it expects a decline in sales in Asia Pacific and weaker pricing in many other markets. It’s also expects Brexit to hurt its European operations, which finally moved from a loss to a profit in 2016. GM recently announced plans to sell its Vauxhall and Opel brands and exit Europe, partly due to costs associated with Brexit and political uncertainty there.
Ford did say will maintain its full-year forecast of only a modest decline in profits, anticipating earnings of about $9 billion this year after a $10.4 billion profit for 2016.
And the automaker says it believes it will be able to weather any change in costs if the Trump administration moves to put a tariff or some other kind of tax on imports from Mexico.
All major automakers in the U.S. market make some of their vehicles in Mexico. Ford estimates that 13% of the cars and trucks it sells in the United States are made in Mexico. While it recently dropped plans to build a new Mexican assembly plant, it is moving ahead with plans to shift its remaining small car production from the U.S. to an existing Mexican plant.