It may be Britain’s bestselling car brand and has been since Harold Wilson was in Downing Street, but Ford still managed to lose more than $1 billion in Europe last year.

The picture was arguably worse elsewhere for the US auto group, with South American losses also helping to more than halve the company’s after-tax profits to $3.1 billion on sales marginally down at $144 billion.

Although one in seven cars sold in the UK is a Ford, the European recession has not been kind to the group. With sales in Russia collapsing, Ford in Europe lost $443 million in the last quarter of 2014, taking it to $1.06 billion in the red for the year.

One of the few upsides is that it is better than the $1.4 billion lost in Europe in 2013 and that operating margins are improving. Sales in the year were also 70,000 units better, at 1.38 million, and Ford launched the popular US model, the Mustang, in the UK this month.

Ford and its US rival General Motors have had a wretched few years in Europe compared with Volkswagen, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover.

One of the few improving units was Ford’s Transit van operation, which is now in eastern Europe.