(AOF) – The American car manufacturer Ford, whose title fell 1.67% to 15.33 dollars in premarket exchanges, was ordered in the United States to pay 1.7 billion dollars (1.69 billion euros) in damages following a trial on its liability in the fatal accident of an F-250 pick-up. The incident, which occurred in 2014, claimed the lives of a couple from the state of Georgia, the AP news agency reported on Sunday.
The Gwinnett County jury, before which the case was brought, determined late last week that exemplary damages should be awarded against Ford for selling 5.2 million Super Duty pickup trucks with what attorneys plaintiffs said they had “dangerously weak roofs” that could crush passengers in a rollover accident, according to James Butler, an attorney representing the plaintiffs in the case.
Ford plans to appeal the verdict, a company representative said.
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A paradoxical performance
Data from EY highlights that the performance of the world’s top 16 manufacturers was particularly strong in 2021. While the average margin has fallen for three years in a row, from 6.3% in 2017 to just 3.5% in 2020 , this margin stood at 8.5% in 2021. This level is a record for ten years. However, the context was particularly hectic for manufacturers, faced with unprecedented shortages of components. Global sales fell 14% in 2020, the year of the health crisis, to rebound by only 5% in 2021. However, last year, players were able to reap the benefits of their efforts on their fixed cost structure. .