Ford Motor Company has today reported a net loss of $5.45 billion (£3.8 billion), or $3.02 (£2.10) per share, for full-year 2001.

The full-year results compare to net income of $3.47 billion (£2.4 billion) or $2.30 (£1.60) per share in 2000.

Revenues for 2001 were $162.4 billion (£113.2 billion), down 5 per cent from $170.1 billion (£118.6 billion) a year ago. Global vehicle sales were 6,991,000, a 6 per cent fall from 7,424,000.

"This was a challenging, difficult year for the Ford Motor Company and our financial performance was unacceptable," said chairman and CEO Bill Ford.

"As outlined in our revitalization plan, we are committed to regaining our momentum and getting back on track. The difficult actions we announced last week will focus us on designing, building and selling the industry's best cars and trucks - and restoring the company's profitability."

The causes of the poor financial results were lower volume in North America, higher marketing and product costs, customer satisfaction initiatives, as well as increased credit losses at Ford Credit.

Ford announced last week it is to shut five of its North American car plants - cutting global production output by 16% - and make 22,000 workers redundant.