Ford Motor Credit Earns $24 Million in the First Quarter of 2008*

DEARBORN, Mich., April 24 -- Ford Motor Credit Company reported net income of $24 million in the first quarter of 2008, down $169 million from earnings of $193 million a year earlier. On a pre-tax basis, Ford Motor Credit earned $36 million in the first quarter, compared with $293 million in the previous year.

The decrease in earnings primarily reflected higher provision for credit losses, higher depreciation expense for leased vehicles and higher net losses related to market valuation adjustments from derivatives. These were offset partially by lower expenses primarily related to the non-recurrence of costs associated with our North American business transformation initiative and higher financing margin.

"We had a challenging first quarter due to market conditions and the slowing economy," said Chairman and CEO Mike Bannister. "However, our strong underwriting and risk management practices continue to generate high-quality assets. Our global transformation begun a decade ago has laid a solid foundation to help us weather challenging business conditions."

On March 31, 2008, Ford Motor Credit's on-balance sheet net receivables totaled $141 billion, compared with $140 billion at year-end 2007. As a result of our sale of the majority interest in PRIMUS Financial Services Inc., our operation in Japan, and the reclassification of the entity as a discontinued operation, the receivables in each year were reduced by about $2 billion. Managed receivables were $146 billion on March 31, 2008, compared with $145 billion on December 31, 2007.

  On March 31, 2008, managed leverage was 9.4 to 1.

    Ford Motor Credit Company LLC is one of the world's largest automotive
    finance companies and has supported the sale of Ford Motor Company
    products since 1959.  Ford Motor Credit is an indirect, wholly owned
    subsidiary of Ford.  It provides automotive financing for Ford, Lincoln,
    Mercury, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mazda and Volvo dealers and customers.
    More information can be found at  FORD CREDIT