Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co., the second-biggest U.S. automaker, narrowed its third-quarter loss to $380 million after boosting revenue and reducing costs through plant closings and job cuts.

The loss decreased to 19 cents a share from $5.2 billion, or $2.79, a year earlier, Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford said in a statement today. Revenue climbed 11 percent to $41.1 billion, as vehicle unit sales rose 1.4 percent. Gains in China helped make up for a plunge in U.S. volume.

The shares rose in early New York trading as Ford posted its second consecutive quarterly results that topped analysts' estimates by a wide margin. In the second quarter, Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally surprised investors with a $750 million profit, Ford's first in two years.

``It looks good; they beat estimates, they beat on the revenue side,'' said Mirko Mikelic, who helps manage $21 billion in fixed-income assets at Fifth Third Asset Management in Grand Rapids, Michigan. ``Those are pretty solid numbers.''

Excluding costs the company considers one-time items, the loss was $24 million, or 1 cent a share. On that basis, analysts expected a loss of 47 cents, the average of 14 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Ford gained as much as 5.2 percent before regular New York Stock Exchange trading. The shares rose 33 cents, or 4 percent, to $8.57 at 8:06 a.m. after reaching $8.67. Ford advanced 9.7 percent this year through yesterday.

``We can see our plan taking hold with significant improvement continuing in our core automotive operations,'' Mulally said in the statement.

Revenue Rises

Ford said the revenue increase stemmed from higher overall prices and selling more-expensive versions of models. The automaker also said it benefited from changes in currency- exchange rates, without providing specifics.

Ford sold 1.49 million vehicles in the quarter, including a 27 percent sales gain in China. Sales in the U.S., Ford's biggest market, dropped 18 percent to 600,310, according to figures from Autodata Corp. of Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

The company said its worldwide automotive business had a pretax $362 million loss in the quarter, down from $1.9 billion a year ago. The North American auto unit, the main source of losses, had a $1 billion pretax deficit, about half of what it was in 2006's third quarter. The figures exclude costs Ford considers one-time items.

Volvo Review

Ford also said it completed a review of its Sweden-based Volvo unit and that Volvo will ``operate on a more stand-alone basis.'' Ford will report Volvo's financial results in 2008 financial statements.

Spokeswoman Becky Sanch declined to comment beyond the statement.

Mulally is closing 10 plants and has cut thousands of jobs in an attempt to restore profitability after a $12.6 billion loss in 2006. He's also hired a new sales chief from Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. to shore up Ford's shrinking U.S. market share.

Ford has cut 33,600 U.S. factory jobs since the end of 2005, the company said in a slide deck prepared for a conference call about earnings.

Earlier this year, the automaker trimmed 10,000 salaried jobs and closed two assembly plants, in Michigan and Virginia. Last year, Ford shut its St. Louis and Atlanta plants.

Ford derives about 38 percent of U.S. sales from big pickups and sport-utility vehicles, models most affected by rising gasoline prices. A U.S. housing slump also has curbed spending and kept away some truck buyers such as contractors. Ford is deliberately reducing some sales by scaling back low-profit deals with rental-car companies.

Sliding Share

The automaker hasn't reported a gain in its domestic market share since 1995, when it accounted for one in every four cars and light trucks sold in the U.S.

The U.S. market share of the company's Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands fell below the automaker's target of at least 14 percent. Mark Fields, chief of Ford's Americas unit, told reporters Nov. 5 that the company is stabilizing sales to individual customers.

Ford last month hired Jim Farley, one of Toyota's top U.S. marketing officials, to lead global marketing, ending Mulally's search for an executive to raise consumer awareness of Ford products. Farley will also directly supervise Ford's U.S. sales and marketing efforts.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Koenig in Dearborn, Michigan, at wkoenig@bloomberg.net