Ford confirms some investments in Mexico
Ford Motor Company confirmed plans to update facilities in Mexico but would not comment on whether it planned to build a new plant there as AFP reported earlier this week.
"We remain committed to a new low-cost manufacturing facility. But we have made no decisions on where it will be located," Mark Fields, Ford's President of the Americas, said in a statement.
"The key to success will be high quality and low cost, and that certainly can be in the US, Canada or Mexico."
Building the plant in Mexico is likely to draw the ire of the United Auto Workers union which has, until this point, been relatively supportive of Ford's massive restructuring plan which includes the shuttering of 12 plants in Canada and the United States and the loss of up to 30,000 jobs.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said earlier this week that the union had not had a chance to review Ford's plans in Mexico.
Meanwhile, Gettelfinger appointed a new top bargainer at Ford, Bob King, an experienced UAW vice president, who is expected to take a harder line in talks over plant shutdowns than his predecessor.
According to a document obtained earlier this week by AFP, Ford plans to invest 9.2 billion dollars in a new plant in Mexico that could create some 150,000 jobs. That, according to the document, would reduce the number of jobless in the country by 15 percent.
It would represent between seven and nine percent of the total annual foreign direct investment in Mexico and would also generate exports valued at 18 billion dollars, the internal report noted.
The documents also indicated that Ford expects to increase its purchases of Mexican-made components by 300 percent, while suppliers could increase their investments by 3.6 billion dollars.
Ford said Friday that details of the overhauls of its two existing Mexican assembly plants in Cuautitlan and Hermosillo, and its engine plant in Chihuahua, will be announced over the next several years as the improvements take place.
"Ford has been doing business in Mexico since 1925, and we were the first automaker ever in the country. We are proud of our manufacturing capability in Mexico today, and we plan to upgrade our facilities for the future, just as we have been modernizing many of our facilities in the US and Canada," Fields said.
Ford inaugurated its first plant some 80 years ago in Mexico City to build the Model T. Today, Ford builds the F-Series pickup and Ikon small car in Cuautitlan. Engines for several vehicles sold globally are made in Chihuahua. The Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln Zephyr are built in Hermosillo.
"For more than eight decades, we have worked hand-in-hand with Mexico, its people and its government," said Louise Goeser, Ford of Mexico president and chief executive.
"Mexico remains an excellent business environment for Ford, and it will remain a key manufacturing location for our global automotive operations as a result of these investments."
AFP
