Ford Suspends Production in Venezuela

Ford Motor Co. has halted car production in Venezuela at least through May because it can't get enough parts, Bloomberg News reports.

Ford cut Venezuelan output 75% in the fourth quarter of 2013, blaming a shortage of U.S. dollars and a sharp drop in demand for new cars caused by the country's soaring inflation rate.

The company tells Bloomberg the Venezuelan government has pledged to address the problem and enable Ford to resume output by the start of June.

Ford, General Motors and Chrysler all took pretax charges in the first quarter of 2014 to cover their own devaluation of Venezuela's currency.