Ford Motor on Monday gave hope to a moribund car industry by reporting a $997m Q3 profit, compared with a year-earlier Q3 net loss of $161m. Ford, the only ‘big three’ US carmaker to avoid bankruptcy this year, also said its North American arm had returned to profitability after nearly five years and raised its official outlook, saying it would be “solidly profitable” by 2011. Its earnings were helped by cost-cutting, increased market share and government incentives such as the “cash for clunkers” scheme.