Ford said in a statement it is scrapping plans for the new plant in San Luis Potosi and instead will invest $700m in a factory in MI to build electric vehicles.
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Ford is a global automaker, Fields said, but “our home is right here in MI”.
Fields said Ford would have gone ahead with the decision whether or not Trump was elected president, however, he did say that he alerted both Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence ahead of the announcement on Tuesday. The decision was a “vote of confidence” in the USA economy, he asserted. Fields emphasized, however, that he did not negotiate any special deal with Trump.
Trump’s routinely threatens USA automakers, and his campaign was built around a pledge to repeal the North American Free Trade Agreement-a now 23-year-old deal that has allowed for tremendous auto plant growth in Mexico as those vehicles are sold here without tariffs.
Michigan’s national leadership in advanced manufacturing continued today with the announcement that Ford Motor Co. will create a Manufacturing Innovation Center at its Flat Rock Assembly Plant. It said the plant will also make the Ford Mustang and Lincoln Continental.
Ford’s decision to cancel the San Luis Potosi plant doesn’t seem to be the product of any political pressure.
Ford will focus these changes on the electric auto industry.
This morning Trump put GM on notice over the Chevy Cruze. The CEO said he did not know if Trump would go through with threats of high tariffs on vehicles made in Mexico and exported to the U.S. “Make in United States of America or pay big border tax!”, he wrote in his Twitter account.
Trump, during the presidential campaign, attacked Ford for its plans to shift Focus small-car production to Mexico.
Complicating matters: In a political realignment of sorts, the United Auto Workers union, which represents GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler hourly workers in the USA, endorsed Trump’s bid to renegotiate NAFTA.
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“In an effort to meet customer demand for the Chevrolet Cruze, GM will be utilizing existing production capacity in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico to supplement production at its plant in Lordstown, Ohio”, GM said in a statement. GM responded by saying only a “small number” of Cruze hatchbacks are shipped from Mexico to the U.S. They’re no going to build cars in Mexico and sell them in the United States, okay? It said the Mexican-made model accounted for roughly 4,500 of those sales, 2.4 percent. They trail behind China (24.5 million), the USA (12.1 million), Japan (9.2 million), Germany (6 million), South Korea (4.5 million), and India (4.1 million).
