Ford Motor Co is reviving its Bronco SUV.
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Ford added one more piece of the puzzle today. First was the reversal of plans to move Lincoln MKC production out of Kentucky. Assembly plants are big investments, costing well over $1 billion, and automakers are unlikely to change course. Ford has not been Trump’s only target in the automotive sector.
As other automotive CEOs wonder whether they’ll be targeted next by a tweet from President-elect Donald Trump over their company’s trade practices, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has a more sanguine view: As long as the prospect of a Trump presidency is boosting expectations for US economic growth, the auto industry should be happy.
The timing was clearly no coincidence. Several talks and displays accompanied this trend as part of the show’s Automobili-D series of presentations.
And the fact that Trump picked on the Cruze was curious. GAC unveiled three new vehicles at the auto show, including a plug-in hybrid, and said it plans to sell a five-passenger SUV in the U.S.by 2019. Kia is teasing a high-performance sports auto and Ford – which shocked the show with its GT previous year – is mum on its plans.
– CHINA’S COMING: Volvo and Buick are already selling Chinese-built vehicles in the U.S. But so far, no Chinese automaker has managed to crack the U.S. market, where tough safety regulations and dealer franchise laws can be a barrier for newcomers.
Ford and GM are particularly well positioned to weather a trade storm in North America due to their substantial US operations.
Through November, GM had made 319,536 Cruze sedans in OH a year ago.
Queue the fawning US political class now gleefully perpetuating the illusion that the new president-elect of the United States is anything but a huckster. And he reiterated that the decisions about the investment and jobs were made before the election with the United Auto Workers union.
The truth is that GM can’t just move hatchback production to OH at the drop of a hat. “This is just the beginning – much more to follow”.
A 35% tariff would eliminate the savings of manufacturing in Mexico, Ford Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks said. A plant in Toledo, Ohio, will build a new Jeep pickup truck. If we started a drinking game where we had to take a shot every time someone said “mobility” this week, we would have died from alcohol poisoning on the first morning.
Snyder declined to speculate whether President-elect Donald Trump’s saber-rattling over foreign investments have helped MI get the new jobs.
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The investment that Ford is making in MI, adding 700 jobs here instead of 2,800 in Mexico, is certainly significant.
