(April 28, 2015) Ford today said its first-quarter net income fell 6.6 percent to $924 million as the launch of its aluminum-bodied pickup cut production. Ford said the F-150 introduction has gone so well that it is increasing its projections for North American profit margins slightly but that economic conditions in South America have been worse than expected.

Revenue in the quarter fell 5.6 percent to $33.9 billion.

“The first quarter was a good start to a year in which our results will grow progressively stronger as the new products we have been launching start to pay off,” Ford CEO Mark Fields said in a statement. “We are re-confirming that 2015 will be a breakthrough year for Ford.”

Ford earned $1.34 billion in North America, 11 percent less than the same period a year ago. Operating margins declined to 6.7 percent from 7.3 percent.

F-150 shipments were about 60,000, or 40 percent, lower than in the first quarter of 2014, Ford CFO Bob Shanks said. Shipments of the Ford Edge crossover, which also is newly redesigned, were reduced by more than half.

But at normal production rates, North American profits would have been at least $1 billion higher and margins “would easily have been over 10 percent,” Shanks told reporters at Ford’s headquarters.

“Those are high-margin products, high-revenue products,” Shanks said. “We’re going to have a lot of tailwinds behind in terms of product performance by the second half” of the year.

The F-150 and other introductions have reduced margins and contributed to a U.S. market share decline. Ford’s U.S. vehicle sales in the first quarter rose 2 percent, but its share fell half a point to 15 percent.

Sources: Ford Motor Co, Automotive News