Investments, Equity Method and Joint Ventures

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2022

Equity Method Investments and Joint Ventures [Abstract]

Equity Method Investments and Joint Ventures Disclosure

NOTE 10. IMPAIRMENT OF EQUITY IN NET ASSETS OF AFFILIATED COMPANIES

In 2017, we began investing in Argo AI, an artificial intelligence company that became a consolidated subsidiary, with a commitment to fund $1 billion over five years to develop autonomous vehicle technology. In 2020, we completed a transaction with Volkswagen AG (“VW”) that resulted in Ford and VW holding equal interests in Argo AI, which together comprised a majority ownership of the entity. As a result of this transaction, which included $500 million of proceeds from the sale to VW of a portion of our interest in Argo AI, we deconsolidated Argo AI, remeasured our retained investment in the entity at fair value, and, net of our carrying value in Argo’s net assets, recognized a $3.5 billion pre-tax gain in Other income/(loss), net. Immediately following this transaction, our retained investment consisted of a $2.4 billion equity method investment and a $400 million preferred equity security investment, which were reflected on our consolidated balance sheets in Equity in net assets of affiliated companies and Other assets, respectively.

Although Argo AI has made progress on developing highly automated driving technology (L4), to achieve commercially viable scale, Argo AI’s technology requires significant additional capital investment and time. In the near term, we see more potential for partial or conditional automated driving technology (L2/L3) to be transformative for customers and our business. Therefore, in the third quarter of 2022, we made the strategic decision to shift our capital spending from L4 technology being developed by Argo AI to advanced L2/L3 systems, which we believe will ultimately be essential to achieve profitable commercialization of L4 autonomy at scale in the future. Additionally, because of the significant additional capital and time required to achieve commercialization of L4, as well as other macroeconomic factors, Argo AI has been unable to attract new investors. After performing external outreach in the third quarter to assess market interest in acquiring either Argo AI or its technology components and conducting internal reviews to evaluate opportunities to leverage Argo AI’s technology, Ford determined that Argo AI no longer has value as a going concern. As a result, we reassessed the carrying value of our investment in Argo AI as of September 30, 2022, and in October, Ford and VW initiated the process of exiting the joint development of L4 technology through Argo AI.

Our valuation assumes an orderly conclusion of operations at Argo AI, in which the cash required to satisfy the remaining obligations would consume most of Argo AI’s remaining capital. In addition, we assessed whether Argo AI’s technology components have value in isolation, and we concluded that the cost to integrate into currently anticipated technology ecosystems would be prohibitive.

Accordingly, we recorded a $2.7 billion pre-tax impairment in the third quarter of 2022, reducing the carrying value of our investment to $64 million, which primarily represents our share of Argo AI’s cash less its obligations. The non-cash charge was reported in Equity in net income/(loss) of affiliated companies, and our remaining investment is in Equity in net assets of affiliated companies. The carrying value of our investment in Argo AI immediately prior to the impairment was higher than our net cash investment of approximately $500 million (i.e., our $1 billion investment less proceeds we received from VW) due to the non-cash gain recognized when we deconsolidated Argo AI in 2020 as described above. Finally, on October 26, 2022, we announced that Argo AI plans to wind down operations.