Ford drives quarterly profit to $2.1bn

Ford Motor made $2.1bn (£1.4bn) in the first three months of 2010 – its fourth consecutive quarterly profit and its highest for six years.

The US car-maker, the only one not to accept a government bailout, said it was on track to be in profit in every quarter this year – a year earlier than expected. Ford, which lost $1.4bn in the first quarter of 2009, said earnings were up in North America, Asia, South America and Europe. Revenues rose by 15 per cent to $28.1bn.