Shares of Ford Motor Co. fell more than 7 percent Wednesday after the company warned that profits next year would soften from near-record levels in 2013, and its targets for profit margins in the middle of the decade could be at risk.
Ford said Wednesday that pretax profit for this year should total about $8.5 billion, which could be the best in a decade and among the strongest in company history. But the company warned profits could fall by as much as $1.5 billion next year, in a range of $7 billion to $8 billion, as price increases slow in North America and global costs rise, in part because of an ambitious launch of almost two dozen vehicles.
