Ford says it will move its entire small auto operation from America to Mexico, NBC News reported.
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Ford updated its outlook Wednesday during its annual investor day.
“Over the next two to three years, we will have migrated all of our small vehicle production to Mexico”, CEO Mark Fields said at an investor conference in Detroit on Wednedsay, assuring investors that his company maintains a healthy profit margin in its pickup truck and van business.
But the new development played perfectly for Trump, who was campaigning in the MI, the traditional home to the nation’s auto industry. In 2015, Ford said it planned on moving production of its Ford Focus and C-Max cars to another country by 2018. Zero. Not one job will be lost.
Economic experts say the same US trade policies Donald Trump has criticized for decimating American manufacturing are the culprit behind Ford’s announcement.
After Focus production moves to Mexico, Ford will move the production of other vehicles into the Wayne., Mich., plant where the Focus is now made, Ford spokeswoman Kelli Felker said.
It now builds the Chevrolet Cruze at a factory in Lordstown, Ohio, and the Chevy Sonic at a plant in Orion, Michigan.
In Michigan, Ford’s announcement didn’t come as a great surprise. The Free Press and other media outlets have previously reported that Ford plans to bring the Ranger, a midsize pickup it builds in other parts of the world, to the US and might bring back the Bronco SUV nameplate.
Recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its “risk-adjusted” total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon.
Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant, which makes the small cars, will be getting new products under a contract signed previous year with the United Auto Workers union. For example, Field said the current Ford Focus can be ordered in 300 configurations of options and colors.
“There is no reason, mathematically, to go ahead and run to countries like Mexico, Thailand, and Taiwan”. We’re dedicated to putting on the road an autonomous vehicle that can improve safety and solve social and environmental challenges for millions of people – not just those who can afford luxury vehicles. “We are not naive”.
Ford says it is going to shift production of all of its small cars, like these Focus compacts, to Mexico. He said Ford produces more vehicles and has more hourly workers in the USA than any other automaker.
The company is building a new $1.6bn assembly plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles also has said it is considering an expansion of its production there.
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A Reuters analysis of automaker investments in future mobility startups estimates that Ford has spent less than $500 million in the sector over the past five years, while Toyota has spent more than $1.1 billion, GM more than $1.2 billion and Daimler more than $1.4 billion. Those vehicles carry much higher profit margins than for small vehicles.
