Chicago, Apr 28 (IANS): US automaker Ford Motor Co. has reported that it notched a profit of $1.4 billion in the first quarter of 2012, a decrease of 45 percent compared to the same period of last year, as higher tax expenses and a heavy loss in the European market affected its overall performance.

Ford said in a Friday statement that its first-quarter revenue of $32.4 billion was also $700 million down from a year ago.

Higher tax expenses, lower wholesale volumes, and the difficult economic situation in Europe were cited by Ford as main reasons for the earnings decline, although the
automaker still posted a pre-tax operating profit for the 11th consecutive quarter, reported Xinhua.

Before taxes, total net income for Ford was $2.3 billion. However, that was also down 19 percent, or $544 million, from the 2011 first quarter.

Ford's profit appeared somewhat dragged down by its global divisions in the first quarter, as the automaker actually saw improved performance in North America.

The company's North America pre-tax profit was $2.1 billion, up $289 million from the first quarter of 2011. Ford noted that this was the highest quarterly profit for the region since at least 2000.