Ford Motor Company (F) Bullish In Russia Market For Mid-, Long-Term

Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) is remaining confident in its prospects in the Russian market for the medium- and long-term, Robert Shanks, executive vice president and chief financial officer, said in an interview on CNBC.

Russia has been suffering recently amplified by cheap gas and Shanks was admittedly unsure whether the market will rebound in the country this year.

He said that Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) has made significant headway in its plans in Europe but added that when they were formulating the plan in 2012 and included Russia as a significant part of the plan, they did not foresee the current troubles the country is in. Ford expected Russia to become the biggest market in Europe at the time, Shanks said.

“Things have changed since [we made our plans] but we do have confidence that at least in the medium to long term, Russia is still going to be an important market and we want to participate in that. But you’re absolutely right, [it was] very, very tough in Russia last year and looking extremely difficult this year,” the Ford executive said.

Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) lost $350 million in Russia last year, CNBC data reveals. The company lost a total of $1.1 billion in Europe in 2014 with guidance for the region for 2015 coming in at a large but still smaller greater than $250 million loss.

Meanwhile, Shanks said that Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) is positioned well for growth in 2015. As for the new F-series trucks, he said that the new models are selling well and that it’s their fastest turning product at the moment generating strong revenue.

Marc Lasry’s Avenue Capital is a substantial Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) shareholder. It reported owning 9.1 million shares in the car maker by the end of September, an 82% increase quarter over quarter.