F - Ford Motor Company

Ford to build huge plant in Mexico despite outrage

Ford Motor (F) said Tuesday it will invest $1.6 billion in a new plant in San Luis Potosí, 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.

"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.'"

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.

"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.

In 2014, automakers announced $18.25 billion in additional investments in North America. The breakdown: almost $10.5 billion for the U.S., $7 billion in new projects for Mexico, and a single $750-million project for Canada, according to the Center for Automotive Research. That investment is on top of the 18 plants already in Mexico, and at least five more planned or under construction.

By 2020, Mexico is expected to build one in four vehicles in a North American industry of 18.6 million units.

Union leaders often say automotive jobs are going to Mexico because of the North American Free Trade Agreement that was signed into law in 1993 by U.S. President Bill Clinton, but that is just one among several factors.

In addition to NAFTA, Mexico has 10 other free trade agreements covering 43 countries, according to ProMexico, an economic development arm of the Mexican government. Automotive executives also say Mexico's ports and rail systems make it easy to export cars out of the country.

Mexico's wages are also far lower than U.S. wages. The average Mexican worker assembling vehicles or making parts earns $7.79 per hour including benefits, according to the Center for Automotive Research. That's substantially less than $37.38 in the U.S. and $39.04 in Canada.

"When you talk about small car profitability, all of these factors matter," Hinrichs said.

LINK - http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/comp...ge-plant-in-mexico-despite-outrage/ar-BBrogVt

 

Trump calls Ford building plant in Mexico 'an absolute disgrace'

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.

LINK - http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ford-motor-mexico-trump-idUSKCN0X22G5

 

Ford and the rest of the automakers need to wake up and realize Tesla is about to dominate EV's!

Why is TSLA the only one that makes EVs look like actually cool cars and not some abomination like the Leaf?

 

Ford's autonomous Fusion can see in the dark without headlights

People are giving a rightful amount of guff to the current status of self-driving cars, as many early autonomous vehicles have a hard time in weather that isn't gin-clear. Ford knows its systems aren't yet perfect, but its self-driving Fusion research vehicles are getting better. Now, they're able to navigate in darkness.

Its cars are able to tackle the dark of night thanks to two technologies -- 3D mapping and Lidar. Lidar, which stands for Light Detection And Ranging, uses lasers to measure distances to objects. 3D maps provide additional information about the road, including markings and geography. The Lidar helps the car recognize where on the map it currently is.

Using infrared-enhancing goggles, Ford's engineers are able to watch the car work its magic as it casts infrared laser beams around the vehicle. Right now, the nighttime, lights-off testing is limited to its Arizona proving grounds, as it's quite illegal to operate a vehicle on public roads at night without traditional illumination.

While autonomous night vision could help vehicles continue to march toward a destination if infrastructure or the car's own lighting suddenly goes dark, hurtling forward in pitch black might be a bit unnerving to your average driver or passenger. That said, it could also put a small dent in the light pollution that covers much of the sky in areas with higher population density.

LINK - http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/tech...see-in-the-dark-without-headlights/ar-BBrCW36

 

Ford plans to move Michigan offices into two new modern campuses

Ford Motor Co (F) said on Tuesday it will modernize and consolidate its sprawling Dearborn, Michigan, engineering and headquarters facilities over the next decade into two Silicon Valley-style campuses.

The auto company plans to move about 30,000 employees now housed in 70 buildings, some of which were built in the 1950s. The company will rebuild or upgrade 7.5 million square feet of office space in the transition.

Read full article here: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ford-headquarters-idUSKCN0X920Z

 

"What car do you drive?"
"Oh, I drive a Ford..."

 

yeah the new mustangs are really great!

I had a 2001 Mustang which I drove for over 10yrs. The newer models are 10x better and so much more powerful!