Ford Turns its Attention Back to US Manufacturing, Dumps Plans for Mexico Plant
Ford Motor Company CEO Mark Fields didn’t completely scale back the company’s long-term production plans, but the automaker pull a hard U-turn on one goal.
In a speech at the automaker’s Flat Rock, Michigan, assembly plant, Fields said he was “encouraged” by President-elect Donald Trump’s “pro-growth policies.” Because of this, the Blue Oval’s planned $1.6-billion small car plant in Mexico is now off the table. Instead, the automaker will expand and modernize Flat Rock as it brings a slew of promised hybrid and electric vehicles to production.
In total, Ford promises seven electrified models, including two — a long-range fully electric vehicle and a fully autonomous hybrid vehicle — that will roll out of Flat Rock. To accommodate the plans, Ford will invest $700-million to build a new manufacturing and innovation center at the plant, creating 700 new jobs in the process.
Flat Rock already produces the Ford Mustang and Lincoln Continental.
Crediting the UAW and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder for their continued support, Fields lauded the policies signaled by the incoming Trump administration.
“We believe that these tax and regulatory reforms are critically important to boost U.S. competitiveness, and of course drive a resurgence in American manufacturing and high-tech innovation,” said Fields. “All of these factors — coupled with segmentation shifts that we’re seeing in the marketplace and our effort to fully utilize the capacity at existing facilities — have prompted us, obviously, to invest in Flat Rock’s expansion and cancel building a new plant in Mexico.”
The CEO claimed Flat Rock will become “one of the world’s most flexible and high-tech manufacturing centers.”
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Trump made an example out of Ford during the election, singling the automaker out for moving its small car production to Mexico — a common practice in the industry — and threatening a 35-percent import tariff. Ford rebuffed the threats, claiming in November that the low-profit Ford Focus was still leaving Michigan for Mexico. That plan hasn’t changed, but the compact won’t find a home in a pricey new plant. Instead, the model will be built at Ford’s existing Hermosillo, Mexico assembly plant.
In an interview with CNN, Fields claims he spoke with Trump and vice-president elect Mike Pence this morning. “We didn’t cut a deal with Trump,” said Fields of the plant announcements. “We did it for our business.”
The CEO promised to build the infrastructure behind the upcoming electric vehicles, including a potential wireless-charging system. That method of recharging will soon be the focus of a Ford pilot project.
UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles was clearly pleased with Ford’s announcement, declaring the Flat Rock investment to be the “equivalent of a new assembly plant.”
A version of this story originally appeared on The Truth About Cars
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