Ford has said it continues to invest heavily in its US plants and isn’t cutting jobs here.
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And while Ford is shifting production of all small cars to Mexico, it will continue to make many auto models at USA plants, including the iconic Mustang.
As the Detroit Free Press reports, CEO Mark Fields told investors Tuesday that the change will be gradual, happening over the next two to three years.
“It was just announced that Ford is moving all small vehicle production – all of it – 100 percent to Mexico over the next two to three years”. A new $1.6 billion Mexican assembly plant is expected to take over small-car production in 2018 and will allow the company to take advantage of the country’s lower wages.
Ford had a quick reply to Trump’s hyperbolic statement that all American jobs will be lost due to the vehicle manufacturer’s new plant opening up in Mexico. The last small cars it produces in the US are made at the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, but will end production there in 2018.
During contract talks in 2015, Ford confirmed that it would move Focus and C-Max production out of its Wayne, Michigan, plant in 2018. Executives said they expect to sell more than 100,000 robot taxis a year come 2021, producing vehicles with no steering wheel, gas or brake pedals for ride-hailing and ride-sharing fleets.
Ford is investing US$4.5bn in electric vehicle technology and introducing 13 new electrified vehicles – representing 40% of its line-up – by 2020.
The United Auto Workers has said the number of auto assembly jobs would not decline because workers would be busy making SUVs and pickup trucks. The company believes that autonomous vehicles could account for up to 20% of vehicle sales by 2030. Most of our investment is here in the US.
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“Usually when we had to do it, our backs were up against the hot pipes and we were in crisis”, Fields said. A commuter-van service Ford is introducing in San Francisco could be part of a business generating as much as $200 billion industrywide by end of the next decade, the company said. We’ll recognize there is a huge problem in Mexico. “We’re focused on usage where miles traveled be”, he said. “Autonomous vehicles will account for one of every 10 miles traveled by 2025”.
