“For every investment in Mexico, it means jobs that could have and should have been available right here in the United States of America”, he said in a statement at the time.
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“We create jobs in numerous places where we do business”, he said. Last week, Ford said it had acquired Chariot, a San Francisco-based startup that provides a local on-demand shuttle service with dynamic routing capability.
“(It is) one of the tactics a vehicle maker can use to remain competitive and make a profit in a very competitive and complicated industry”, Nerad said.
The United Auto Workers, the USA union, has said the number of auto assembly jobs will not decline because workers will be busy making SUVs and pickup trucks.
American don’t want little cars. Fields has responded that as a global company, Ford must compete by making solid business decisions. “We have our minds wide open because it’s still very early innings on this”.
Speaking during an investor event, Fields said the shift will occur over the next two to three years.
Ford is projecting an adjusted pretax profit of $10.2 billion this year, lower than the record $10.8 billion it booked last year.
The news comes a week after the company announced an expanded US$640 million recall to replace faulty door latches on an additional 1.5 million cars.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker’s shares fell 1.7 percent to $12.17 at 2:06 p.m.in NY and are down about 14 percent this year. The stock is down nearly 14 percent so far this year.
However, Ford spokeswoman Christin Tinsworth Baker said the shift in small auto production will not affect U.S.jobs, noting that two new products are coming to its MI plant.
Production of the Ford Focus and C-Max, the only small cars Ford still assembles in the United States, will be moved to Mexico, according to a Ford spokeswoman.
Each announcement has generated a fresh round of back-and-forth between Ford and Trump.
Fields said “zero” jobs will be lost in the USA and said “it is really unfortunate when politics get in the way of the facts”. A driver whose auto was using the system died in Florida in May in a collision with a tractor-trailer.
– PROFIT MARGINS: Fields said Ford’s emerging mobility businesses may not make money right away, but will have to show a path to profitability. And those vehicles carry much higher profit margins than for small vehicles.
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The automaker plans to spend $1.6 billion on its small-car production operations in Mexico.
