One team. One plan. One goal.
Our One Ford plan continues to deliver. The comprehensive strategy we outlined in our message to shareholders seven years ago continues to inspire us as we transform Ford into an exciting, viable company delivering profitable growth for all.
Guided by our plan, we are working together to serve all markets with a full family of vehicles - small, medium and large; cars, utilities and trucks - each with the best quality, fuel efficiency, safety, smart design and value.
In 2013, we achieved one of the best years in the history of our 111-year-old company, driven by our highest Automotive pre-tax profit in more than a decade and continued solid profit from Ford Credit.
Our strong product lineup led to record full-year profits in North America. Asia Pacific Africa also achieved record profits as we continue to grow aggressively with an expanding portfolio of global products. South America continues to execute its strategy of expanding the product line-up, and despite the impact of unfavorable external factors we delivered an about breakeven result in 2013. Europe continues to implement its transformation plan, achieving lower losses for 2013 compared with 2012 despite higher restructuring costs and lower industry volume.
While we celebrate our strong performance in 2013, we are even more excited by the fact that we have only just begun to see the full potential of our One Ford plan. 2014 represents the next major step in our plan.
Great Products
We will introduce the most vehicles in a single year in our history in 2014, with Ford and Lincoln launching 23 new or significantly refreshed vehicles to customers around the world to help us build on our strong sales momentum.
In 2013, Ford was America's best-selling vehicle brand for the fourth consecutive year, and Ford F-Series continued as the country's best-selling truck for the 37th year in a row and best-selling vehicle for the 32nd consecutive year.
Ford had the largest U.S. market share point gain of any automaker in 2013. Our business is undergoing unprecedented growth in China, where our sales increased nearly 50 percent and set a new record. We also achieved market share gains in South America and Asia Pacific Africa, as well as higher retail sales share in Europe compared with 2012.
Our global sales increased 12 percent in 2013 compared with 2012, as customers took delivery of more than 6 million new Ford and Lincoln vehicles. Our strong global performance was led by Focus, which was the best-selling nameplate in the world for the first nine months of 2013 (the latest data available). Focus was joined by Fiesta to give Ford two of the top five best-selling nameplates worldwide.
We expect to serve even more customers and achieve global sales growth of another 25 percent in the years ahead with a product portfolio that is more balanced than ever.
Strong Business
To meet this growth, we will continue our most ambitious manufacturing expansion in 50 years with two new plants in China, one new plant in Brazil and one new plant in Turkey, as well as increasing capacity or adding production in six of our U.S. assembly plants. We also are creating 11,000 new jobs globally in 2014 - more than we have created in any year in more than a decade.
We made progress in delivering profitable growth in 2013, achieving a full year pre-tax profit of $8.6 billion (excluding special items), or $1.62 per share on an after-tax basis. We achieved our fifth year in a row of positive net income, and 18th consecutive quarter of operating profit.
In 2013 we made $5 billion in cash contributions to our worldwide funded pension plans, and our underfunded position improved by about $10 billion compared with year-end 2012. We also made record profit-sharing payments to our U.S. hourly employees as part of the UAW-Ford collective bargaining agreement. In addition, we doubled the shareholder dividend to 10 cents a share before raising it to 12.5 cents a share in the first quarter of 2014.
Better World
In addition to creating great products and a strong business, we have a proud heritage of making the world a better place. As we expand and realign globally and introduce new products, we are contributing solutions to economic development, energy security and independence, and environmental sustainability. For example, today in the United States we offer eight Ford brand vehicles that deliver 40 mpg or better - more than any of our competitors' brands.
Community service is another important part of our heritage. Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services, our philanthropic organization, has donated more than $1.5 billion in its 65-year history. Our Ford Volunteer Corps, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary next year, encourages salaried employees to volunteer in their communities. During the eighth annual Ford Global Week of Caring in 2013, approximately 10,000 members of the Ford Volunteer Corps worked on more than 200 projects on six continents.
Going Further to Deliver Profitable Growth for All
We expect 2014 to be another solid year for Ford Motor Company and a critical building block as we invest around the world for profitable growth beyond 2014. As a result of our record number of new product launches, we expect North American pre-tax profit to be lower in 2014 than in 2013. The payoff will be higher volume and revenue opportunities into 2015 and beyond.
Results in 2014 for South America are expected to be about the same as in 2013 at about breakeven. In Europe, we expect results to improve compared with 2013 as we continue the successful implementation of our transformation plan to achieve profitability in the region in 2015.
Our investments in growth in Asia Pacific during the last several years helped us to achieve record market share and profits in 2013. We will continue to execute our growth strategy for the region in 2014, and expect pre-tax profit to be about the same as in 2013.
Overall, total company pre-tax profit, excluding special items, is projected at $7 billion to $8 billion.
Our One Ford plan is driving solid results and profitable growth for all, and we are confident it will continue to do so in the future.
Thank you for your support of our efforts.
Alan R. Mulally
President and Chief Executive Officer
March 13, 2014