Ford Motor Company finished 2012 on a high note, and revealed today that it recorded net income of $1.6 billion within the fourth quarter of 2012. That’s up from $1.03 billion inside the fourth quarter of 2011. For that reason, Ford’s full-year net income rose to $5.7 billion — up from $5.66 billion in 2011.

Ford attributes the success to continuing strong sales in North America; last the company’s U.S. sales rose 4.7 percent to two.25 million vehicles. Accordingly, Ford’s operating margin was 10.4 percent in 2012, up from 8.4 percent a year earlier. The automaker expects the strong financial results to continue this year and predicts a 2013 operating margin of about 10 percent, too.

The high North American profits mean that Ford will yet again distribute profit-sharing checks to employees. On March 14, eligible hourly employees can expect to receive around $8300, reckoning on hours worked.

Despite strong performances here, Ford’s checkbook remains hampered by poor leads to Europe. Ford Europe lost $1.75 billion before taxes in 2012, giving it an operating margin of -6.6 percent. Although Ford recognized that European car sales would tumble and took drastic action like closing factories, the automaker wasn’t ready to escape heavy losses at the continent. Car sales in Europe totaled just 13.5 million last year, the bottom level since 1995. Ford expects similar sales volume next year and plans to lose about $2 billion there in 2013.

Other regions had mixed results. In South America, the company’s full-year operating margin fell 5.7 percentage points year-over-year to two.1 percent, partly because of currency fluctuations in places like Brazil that cut into profits. Ford Asia Pacific Africa saw its full-year operating profit climb to -0.8 percent, from -1.1 percent in 2011, owing to a 41-percent sales growth within the region. It was also the 1st year the Ford APA sold a couple of million vehicles and recorded greater than $10 billion in revenue.

“Our focus this year might be to continue our strong performance in North America and at Ford Credit, while mutually, addressing challenges and opportunities in other parts of our business,” Ford chief financial officer Bob Shanks said in an announcement. “In Europe this suggests executing our transformation plan, while in South America we can continue to refresh our entire product line-up, and in Asia Pacific we’re going to continue to take a position for even stronger, profitable growth one day.”

Source: Ford