Ford to move all U.S. small-car production to Mexico: report

The Ford Motor Company plans to plans to eventually shift all North American small-car production from the United States to Mexico, according to a Sept. 14 news report in the Detroit Free Press.

“Over the next two to three years, we will have migrated all of our small-car production to Mexico and out of the United States,” the paper quotes Ford CEO Fields as saying at a daylong investor conference held in Dearborn, Mich., on Sept. 13.

The impact on Ford’s U.S. employment will be “minimal in the near-term”, the paper also said. “Ford already builds the Fiesta subcompact and the Fusion mid-size sedan in Mexico. There is an expectation that Ford will build a new Ranger mid-size pickup truck in Wayne [Mich.] and possibly a new Bronco compact sport-utility.”

The automaker also still will make the Ford Mustang at its plant in Flat Rock, Michigan and will begin making the full-size Lincoln Continental there later this year. It also makes the full-size Ford Taurus in Chicago.

The Free Press article also noted that Ford has said it “continues to invest heavily in its U.S. plants and isn’t cutting jobs here,” noting that a year ago the company announced a US$9 billion investment in U.S. plants and [would] create or retain more than 8,500 jobs as part of a new four-year contract with the UAW. Of that, US$4.8 billion goes to 11 facilities in Michigan.”