( dpa )- US automotive concern Ford Motor reported Thursday that it saw a net loss of 2.8 billion dollars in the final quarter of 2007, cutting the red ink by more than half in the year- on-year comparison, and said it would offer employees a new round of buyouts to further cut costs.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based number 2 US car concern attributed the reduction to ongoing cost-cutting efforts as the firm improved from 5.6 billion dollars in losses in the last quarter of 2006.
Chief executive Alan Mulally said the company plans to further reduce the number of employees.
"To help ensure we are able to deliver our commitments despite the difficult external environment, we will be taking further cost reduction actions in North America, including enterprise-wide (United Auto Workers union) buyouts," he said in a statement.
In a conference call, he declined to provide details about the number of buyouts or what the packages would include, Bloomberg financial news reported.
For the full year, Ford produced a net loss of 2.7 billion dollars - also a huge improvement from the 12.6 billion dollars which the company had lost in 2006.
Revenues in 2007 came to 173.9 billion dollars, over 9 per cent better than 160.1 billion dollars the previous year.
Ford said its full-year losses from continuing operations in 2007 was 366 million dollars, compared with 2.7 billion dollars' red ink the year before.