Thread: F - Ford Motor Company

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  1. #1

    Default F - Ford Motor Company

    Ford Motor (F) said Tuesday it will invest $1.6 billion in a new plant in San Luis Potos?, Mexico, to build small cars, making it the latest automaker to expand its presence there.

    Ford's investment in Mexico will create more than 2,800 jobs by 2020, delivering a blow to the UAW, which pushed for higher wages in its contract talks with the automaker last year. The announcement also comes amid a presidential election where the the leading Republican candidate, Donald Trump, has publicly pressured Ford to drop its plans to expand in Mexico.

    Ford said Tuesday it remains committed to investing in the U.S. and adding jobs in America even as it expands its presence in Mexico.

    Ford said construction of the new plant will begin this summer and expects to begin producing cars there in 2018. Ford's investment in Mexico will create more than 2,800 jobs by 2020, delivering a blow to the UAW, which pushed for higher wages in its contract talks with the automaker last year, and prompted a swift reaction from the union.
  2. #2
    CandaceRad
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    "Today’s announcement...is a disappointment and very troubling," UAW President Dennis Williams said in a statement. "For every investment in Mexico it means jobs that could have and should have been available right here in the USA."

    Ford's investment also comes amid a presidential election where the the leading Republican candidate, Donald Trump, has publicly pressured Ford to drop its plans to expand in Mexico.

    Ford said today it remains committed to investing in the U.S. and adding jobs in America even as it expands its presence in Mexico.

    "We have to make decisions on a global scale because we compete globally," Joe Hinrichs, Ford's vice president and president of the America's, told the Free Press. "But lets be clear: We are a proud American company and the majority of our investment happens here in the U.S."

    Hinrichs said Ford has hired 25,000 workers in the U.S. in the past five years and produces more cars in America than any other automaker.

    Last month Trump said he would stop Ford from building in Mexico if he is elected president said he would threaten the company and any other automaker who does so with a 35% tariff on any products or parts imported into the U.S.

    "Within 24 to 48 hours I will get a call from the head of Ford and he will say, 'Mr. President, we have decided we're going to build our new plant in the United States.' ... That's 100% sure," Trump said in March when he spoke in Warren. "They're going to say, 'We're moving back. You want us to move to Michigan?' And I'll say, 'Yeah.'"
  3. #3

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    Since then Ford CEO Mark Fields has repeatedly said the automaker remains committed to investing in the U.S. but will not alter its plans to also expand in Mexico.

    Hinrichs said Tuesday the investment in Mexico will not result in a loss of jobs in the U.S.

    In fact, Hinrichs said Ford made a commitment in November to invest $9 billion in U.S. plants and create or retain more than 8,500 jobs as part of a new four-year contract with the UAW. Of that, $4.8 billion goes to 11 facilities in Michigan.

    Despite that commitment, Ford made it clear last summer that it planned to move production of its Ford Focus and C-Max hybrids cars from a plant in Wayne, Mich., to another country by 2018. Ford has said it will replace those cars with other products, most likely a mid-size Ford Ranger pickup and a new Ford Bronco SUV.

    Hinrichs declined to say Tuesday what products the automaker plans to make at its new plant in Mexico but did say the company intends to make the Focus in a "lower cost" country.
  4. #4
    Cathern28H
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    "When we look at our manufacturing footprint, especially with small cars, we have not made it a secret that we want to improve the profitability of small cars," Hinrichs said.

    Last fall, the UAW pushed Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler to largely eliminate a two-tier wage scale. Under the new contact entry-level workers hired after 2007 who are making between $15.78 and $19.28 per hour will see their wages raised immediately to $17 to $22.50 and then up to about $29 per hour over an eight-year period.

    The automaker also said last year that it plans to spend $2.5 billion on new engine and transmission plants in Chihuahua and Guanajuato, Mexico, creating 3,800 jobs.

    But Ford is hardly alone. In recent years, automakers that include General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Mazda, and Volkswagen have all announced plans to either expand existing plants or build new plants in Mexico. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles also has said it is considering an expansion of its production there.

    Mexico has seen a 40% increase in auto jobs since 2008 to 675,000 last year while the U.S. saw only a 15% increase in the same period to more than 900,000, according to the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor.
  5. #5
    CarolNor
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    U.S. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said the move by Ford Motor Co (F) to build a manufacturing plant in Mexico "is an absolute disgrace" and shows the need to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

    Earlier on Tuesday, Ford confirmed plans to build a plant in San Luis Potosi and an investment of $1.6 billion.

    "This transaction is an absolute disgrace," said Trump's statement, sent to Reuters by email. "Our dishonest politicians and the special interests that control them are laughing in the face of all American citizens."

    Trump said deals like the one Michigan-based Ford made to build a plant in Mexico "will continue until we can renegotiate NAFTA to create a fair deal for American workers."

    Ford did not have an immediate comment on Trump's statement, but two weeks ago its chief executive, Mark Fields, said Ford would not back away from foreign investments if they made sense.

    "We are a global, multinational company and we will invest to keep us competitive and we will do what makes sense for the business," Fields said.

    Ford currently has more workers and makes more vehicles at its U.S. plants than do Detroit rivals General Motors Co (GM) or Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCAU), and has fewer workers and makes fewer vehicles in Mexico than the other automakers.

    GM has about 12,000 hourly paid workers in Mexico, while FCA has 9,547 and Ford has 6,191, the companies said on Tuesday.

    In the United States, Ford has 55,300 hourly paid plant workers, GM has 54,000 and FCA has 36,600, the companies said.

    In 2015, 80 percent of Ford's North American production came from its U.S. plants while 63 percent of GM's North American production came from its U.S. plants and for FCA 64 percent of its North American production came from its U.S. plants.

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