DEARBORN, Mich. — Europe’s economic woes are taking a much bigger bite out of the profits of Ford Motor, which until now has largely avoided the hefty losses that have dragged down the profits of many of its rivals.


The company said on Thursday that its total international losses would triple in the second quarter, with Europe accounting for the most of the loss. Ford lost $190 million in the first quarter in its international operations, which include Europe, South America and the Asia-Pacific region. Europe was responsible for $149 million of the total.


The company’s chief financial officer, Robert Shanks, said in an interview that conditions in Europe were “getting tougher,” as manufacturers stepped up discounts to jump-start sales, which are at their lowest level in more than a decade. “We lost $190 million in the first quarter, and it will be three times greater than that” in the second quarter, Mr. Shanks said in the interview, held at Ford’s world headquarters.


A loss on international operations of $500 million to $600 million in the quarter, which will end on Saturday, would depress Ford’s overall earnings for the period. The company previously forecast that international losses in the second quarter would be roughly the same as in the first quarter.


“We have good results in North America and solid results at Ford Credit,” Mr. Shanks said. However, “the overall company profits will be substantially lower.”


Ford shares, which were flat in regular trading on Thursday, fell about 3 percent after hours after online publication of the weaker forecast.


Ford has suffered less from the downward spiral in European vehicle sales than has General Motors, which is planning to close at least one assembly plant on the Continent.


But now Ford appears to be facing the same hard choices about plant capacity as G.M., Fiat and other carmakers.


Mr. Shanks said the company had “excess capacity” in Europe but declined to reveal specifics of any potential plans for reorganization.


“It’s too soon to say what we are going to do,” Mr. Shanks said. When asked if Ford would consider closing one of its five assembly plants to better align supply with demand, he said, “We’re going to have to develop a plan that gives us an opportunity to do that.”


Ford has an 8 percent market share in Europe, and last year it broke even in the region, where about 15.3 million total vehicles were sold. But with industry sales in Europe now running at a 14 million rate, Ford cannot make money, Mr. Shanks said.


“As we look ahead, this is not a cyclical issue,” he said. “It’s a structural issue.”


Ford earned $1.4 billion in the first quarter because of strong North American results. The company’s home market contributed $2.1 billion in pretax profits. The forecast for Ford’s overall second-quarter results underscores how badly the European market is hurting even the healthiest companies.


Mr. Shanks, who took over as Ford’s top finance official this year, said the difficulty of reaching a solution to the European economic crisis could force automakers to make decisions soon on revamping.


“If the leaders of Europe aren’t able to come up with a really good plan to satisfy the financial markets, there could be severe consequences,” he said.


He did not break out specific projections about the performances of South America and Asia-Pacific in the second quarter. But in a securities filing after the stock market closed on Thursday, the company said that it faced “growing competitive and pricing pressures” in South America and that it continued to incur big investment costs to catch up to other automakers like G.M. in Asia.


The South American division had a pretax profit of $54 million in the first quarter, and Asia-Pacific reported a $95 million loss.


Ford’s disclosure came the same day that the board of Opel, G.M.’s European business, approved a business plan that it hopes will reverse years of losses there.


G.M. has already said it will close an Opel plant in Bochum, Germany, after 2016.


The company declined to reveal more specifics on Thursday about the overall turnaround effort, but said that it would “be instrumental in returning positive results” at Opel.


G.M. has been talking with its European unions for months on stemming its losses, which totaled $256 million in the first quarter. The company’s vice chairman, Stephen J. Girsky, said in a statement that it remained committed to its struggling European subsidiary. The business plan calls for larger investments in the region as well as revamping.


“G.M. stands behind Opel and supports management and labor,” said Mr. Girsky, who oversees Opel’s supervisory board.