In addition, there’s more demand for small cars in Mexico than in the USA, he said. The recall covers certain Ford Taurus and Police Interceptor sedans, Ford Flex wagons, Lincoln MKS sedans and Lincoln MKT SUVs from the 2013 through 2015 model years.
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DETROIT-Ford Motor said Wednesday that it shifting all of its USA small auto production to Mexico, a development that drew fresh criticism from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
“We will have migrated all of our small-car production to Mexico and out of the United States”, over the next two to three years, Fields told Wall Street analysts at an investor conference hosted by the automaker.
Earlier this year, the Dearborn, MI-based company said it would invest $1.6 billion in Mexico for small auto production to begin in 2018, Reuters noted.
The industry has known for decades that domestic manufacturers struggle to make a profit on small cars.
The automaker quickly shot down Donald Trump’s latest hyperbolic claim, made on Fox News Thursday, that Ford plans to “fire all its employees in the United States” as part of a plan to build a plant in Mexico. “And for example, here in North America, we will have migrated all of our small auto production to Mexico and out of the U.S”.
As part of contract negotiations with the union, the MI plant will be getting two products yet to be announced, she said.
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.
Ford is investing US$4.5bn in electric vehicle technology and introducing 13 new electrified vehicles – representing 40% of its line-up – by 2020.
Ford also has the world’s best-selling large utilities with Explorer and Expedition, and the company aims to grow in other segments with four all-new nameplates coming to its global utility vehicle lineup in the next four years. The stock is down nearly 14 percent so far this year.
“This is very different thinking for us”, Fields said. That will save $250 to $300 per vehicle, Ford’s Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks said. The United Auto Workers Union said at the time that Ford planned to build the next Focus in Mexico.
Ford jolted investors on July 28 when it released second-quarter results that fell short of Wall Street expectations, and Chief Financial Officer Robert Shanks said “the growth is over” in the USA market.
CUTTING COSTS: Ford says it will gain $3 billion each year in efficiencies between 2016 and 2018. “We all recognize there is a huge problem in Mexico”.
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Ford executives countered at the time by pointing out the company builds 80 percent of its North American vehicles in the USA, and that it builds more vehicles in the country than any other automaker.
