In a surprise announcement on April 24, the Ford Motor Company disclosed a $100 million first quarter profit in the face of a slumping American market and lowered sales of the automaker's most lucrative models.

A year ago Ford posted a first quarter loss of $895 million, however, before taxes this year the company saw a profit of $669 million. Company spokesman say this is proof that the "Way Forward" restructuring plan for North America is working.

Alan R. Mulally, Ford chief executive, said in an issued statement, "The results of this quarter are encouraging, particularly our outstanding performance in Europe and South America."

Citing the substantial restructuring effort he added. "We believe this is an indication that our efforts to leverage Ford's global assets across the world will bear fruit. Going forward, we remain committed to our key business objectives, including our goal of reaching North America and overall automotive profitability in 2009 despite the challenging economic conditions."

The profit in the first quarter, equal to five center per share, is an improvement over the $282 million or 15 center per share loss of a year earlier. The profit flies in the face of predictions by analysts who believed Ford would post another losing quarter.

Although Ford does expect to have an overall loss for the year, it will be considerably less than the $2.7 billion for 2007 or the $12.6 billion for 2006.