Ford Motor on Thursday reported a surprise $2.3bn second-quarter net profit, thanks largely to April’s debt restructuring deal but also to well-received models that boosted its share in markets around the world.

Alan Mulally, chief executive, acknowledged that Ford’s shunning of government bail-out aid had helped its image in the US, its biggest market, and said the carmaker still planned to meet its target of becoming cash positive and breaking even at the operating level by 2011.