Ford’s net profit slips to $1.65 billion

Ford Motor Co., hurt by accounting changes related to commodity prices, said third-quarter net profits fell slightly to $1.65 billion from $1.69 billion a year earlier. Pretax profits fell to $1.94 billion from $2.06 billion a year earlier.

North American pretax operating profits were essentially flat from the year-earlier period at $1.6 billion.

South America also was in the black, but Ford's European, Asian Pacific and African operations posted pretax losses in the quarter. Profits at Ford's financial operations fell.

Revenues increased as the automaker boosted cash and further trimmed debt.

"We delivered solid results for the third quarter despite an uncertain business environment," Ford CEO Alan Mulally said in a statement.

The results marked Ford's ninth straight pretax quarterly profit and 10th straight net profit while continuing a recent trend of softer earnings, which Ford had predicted.

The company raised its forecast for fourth-quarter production in North America to 660,000 units from 645,000 previously.