Ford, GM Brace for Impact in Argentina and Venezuela

The 2014 Ford FusionPhotograph by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
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In the car business this year, financial engineers may be just as important as their mechanical counterparts. As plummeting emerging-market currencies broadside major automakers, the company that has the most finely tuned policies for pricing and hedging exchange-rate risk stands to win big … or at least lose the least.

The challenges were abundantly clear in the past few days, as Ford Motor and General Motors talked about their struggles in South America–specifically Argentina and Venezuela.