Ford has announced that it's European operation and Premier Automotive Group, which includes Jaguar, made a pre-tax loss of $324 million (£173.4m) in the fourth quarter, down from a profit of $176 million (£94m) a year earlier.

It blamed the poor results on reduced production volumes and the weak US dollar.

However, across the whole of the business, Ford Motor Company enjoyed a turn-around in fortunes with a fourth-quarter profit of $104 million (£55.6m) compared with a year-earlier loss of $793 million.