DETROIT, Michigan: Due to a shortage of semiconductor chips limiting the number of pickup trucks and SUVs available for sale in North America, as well as its heavy investment in the failing electric-vehicle (EV) startup Rivian, Ford Motor said it lost $3.1 billion over the past three months.

However, Chief Financial Officer John Lawler downplayed the losses, noting that the company also made $2.3 billion in pretax profits.

"Clearly, the demand for our new products is very strong. We continue to have issues with supply of chips, which constrained us, and in particular here in North America it hit us disproportionately on our large vehicles," Lawler said.

Semiconductors control everything in modern vehicles, from engine temperature to alerts that an oil change is needed.

According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, the supply-chain issues caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic are the main causes of the chip shortage.

During the pandemic, sales of electronic devices soared when people began working from home and participating in remote learning from their laptops, while worker shortages caused by COVID-19 infections also disrupted supply chains.

Due to the chip shortage, Ford and General Motors had to close many of their North American factories for one to two weeks, including plants that build popular pickup trucks.

Ford reported it sold 966,000 vehicles in the first quarter, down 9 percent from one year earlier.

The plummeting value of its stake in EV startup Rivian also contributed to the losses reported this week, company executives said.

According to Daniel Ives, equity analyst for Wedbush Securities, the California-based EV startup has not lived up to its potential, noting it missed its first-quarter earning projections amidst a price hike debacle.

"To say the Rivian story has been disappointing to us and Wall Street so far would be an understatement," Ives said, but noting it could still be a major EV producer in the future.

Ford's first-quarter loss of $3.1 billion compares with a profit of $3.2 billion in the same period last year. Revenue was 9 percent lower than one year ago, to $34.4 billion.