Mexico Bound? Ford Moving Two Key Models Out Of Michigan
Source: USA Today
Alisa Priddle and Brent Snavely, Detroit Free Press 5:29 p.m. EDT July 9, 2015
DETROIT -- Ford confirmed Thursday that it will move production of the next-generation Ford Focus and Ford C-Max from its Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne. Mich.,with union officials saying they were told it's headed to Mexico in 2018.
The company's decision sets a potentially combative tone just days before contract talks are scheduled to begin. The UAW formally opens negotiations with GM on Monday, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on Tuesday and Ford the following week.
The move also comes as a host of automakers, including Ford, are building new plants in Mexico instead of the U.S. The move raises questions about which products could replace the Focus -- a car that symbolized Ford's transformation in 2011 from a company dependent on truck sales to one aimed at profitably building better, and often smaller, passenger cars.
Ford insists the Michigan plant, which employs 4,000, will not close. But spokeswoman Kristina Adamski would not provide details of any new products being planned for the plant. The company makes the Focus, Focus ST, Focus Electric, C-Max hybrid and C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid at the plant.
"We will move production of the next-generation Ford Focus and C-Max, which currently are built at Michigan Assembly Plant, beginning in 2018," the company said in a statement. "We actively are pursuing future vehicle alternatives to produce at Michigan Assembly and will discuss this issue with UAW leadership as part of the upcoming negotiations."
Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2015/07/09/ford-focus-cmax-mexico/29921307/
Hey repukes in Lansing, that "Right to work" bullshit is working out just swell, eh?
cstanleytech
(26,342 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)underpants
(182,968 posts)Plucketeer
(12,882 posts)and import duties will be levied on these imports???
GeorgeGist
(25,326 posts)Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Audi just decided to build a plant there, rather than here, primarily because Mexico has better trade agreements than we do. And, no, I won't deny wages have something to do with it, but apparently the trade agreements were quite important.
"Mexicos abundance of international free-trade agreements more than 40 compared with the United States 20 strengthened the locations appeal, Rupert Stadler, chairman of the board of management of Audi AG, told the newspaper.
The lack of a duty on Q5s shipped abroad will shave several thousand dollars off the price of that vehicle compared with one originating in the United States. Audi executives showed that they believed they could ensure a plant in San Jose Chiapa would achieve the brands signature levels of product quality, which amounted to an endorsement of Mexican capabilities, unprecedented by any luxury auto maker.
http://www.audiusa.com/newsroom/news/company-articles/2015/03/audi-s-decision-to-build-q5s-in-mexico-shows-that-country-s-appe
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Hoyt
(54,770 posts)before it's too late.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)if Americans would just agree to work for the same wages as people in Mexico and Malaysia. Damn conceited American workers.
daleo
(21,317 posts)If criminal cartels that murder people by the tens of thousands are part of the deal, well that doesn't faze international capitalism. Business is business.
whereisjustice
(2,941 posts)breaks and about $7 a day. Plus, you get docked pay for the time you spend in line waiting to get searched.
Don't worry, the US is getting there too. Just not as fast as you'd like.
Such a brave stance. Just you and a few a few billion dollars of corporate lobbying money paying Congress and the White House to fuck over working families.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)brentspeak
(18,290 posts)Hoyt
(54,770 posts)brentspeak
(18,290 posts)You apparently don't want to live among them.
We already know you despise Americans.
whereisjustice
(2,941 posts)workers are treated like virtual slaves. The VAST number of jobs in Asia and Mexico are going to slow wage workers without rights - they are abused and many of them have nothing but contempt and hatred for arrogant Americans who go into these shops and treat them like shit claiming to be the great white hope.
The vast majority, millions of workers in China and India, are earning less than $7 a day for 12 to 18 hour shifts and they live in poverty without clean water or regular electircity.
And in India and China, US corporations are paying people in sweatshops to spam web sites with pro-TPP, pro-corporate, pro-right wing comments similar to yours.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)jobs that pay more than scratching out a living in dirt? The TPP takes steps to improve the situation. I feel sure, Audi and other big car manufacturers are not doing as you say. I bet with Audi, there is a big, long line applying for those jobs. China will only get better if they are forced to improve by losing jobs to other Asian countries.
Who is paying you to spam anti-TPP stuff?
Duckhunter935
(16,974 posts)Our pay to that super high rate to complete. I think not. That is what free trade and tariff lowering has gotten us.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)are improving. $8/hour is a huge improvement. You don't get to higher wages without investment in a country. Apparently, Mexico realizes that. I guess you'd feel better if Mexico had no opportunities such as Audi, Ford, Martin Guitars, etc.
Duckhunter935
(16,974 posts)it seems you are not very concerned. Whats with the guns insult?
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Duckhunter935
(16,974 posts)but yes, I am guilty of wanting Americans to have a fair and living wage. I do not like having our workers having to compete in these trade agreements with workers that make very little, have no labor protections and weak to no environmental laws. Sounds to me you do not like American workers, that is disappointing to say the least.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)if the TPP increased wages, and environmental protections, you'd still be against it.
I like American workers just fine, being one, but I know that ignoring the world economy will not work in the long-run. Further, I think we've taken more than our fair share of the world's wealth and resources -- and in Mexico's case, literally stole their best land.
cstanleytech
(26,342 posts)majority of trade agreements have essentially ended up being pretty shitty for most of us here in the US.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)brentspeak
(18,290 posts)By quoting an Audi public relations release.
The "will shave thousands of dollars off the price of that vehicle" quote by Audi's CEO is good for a daily belly laugh.
Duckhunter935
(16,974 posts)I am sure it will be passed along. Wonder if those Mexican line workers can afford to buy that car?
msongs
(67,465 posts)because profits are the only thing with value, people being totally expendable and all
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)olddots
(10,237 posts)neato just what we need .
whereisjustice
(2,941 posts)because those Governments don't give a shit if their population lives and dies as slaves to support the lifestyles of the CEO class.
CharlotteVale
(2,717 posts)restorefreedom
(12,655 posts)and right to work laws.
oh wait a sec, wrong site......
edit...seriously, this sux and why we need bernie
Stuart G
(38,454 posts)What do you think??? ....who is in favor of equal and fair tariffs to level the playing field?...Then costs would be very close to the same... If tariffs were set to level the playing field, then jobs would come back..It wouldn't pay to move them somewhere else..
What do you think????
tabasco
(22,974 posts)Ask them what U.S. auto companies have done for America lately.
Stuart G
(38,454 posts)I do not know if that is true...but who knows?? I sure don't
tabasco
(22,974 posts)and some other states I believe.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)That's 1500 jobs in MS, 1200 in AL, 10,000 in KY and 9,000 in TX.
dmosh42
(2,217 posts)shows made in Flint, Mi. Solid ride for a small car, nice zip for a hybrid and quite economical. I think it's all about union busting and big bonuses for the scumbags who run the corporation.
Vinca
(50,322 posts)aint_no_life_nowhere
(21,925 posts)I despise the "cab forward" design. I hate the modern polyurethane paint on cars that make them all look like they're made of plastic. I hate the fact all cars slant forward now from rear to front to make them artificially look like they're moving even when stopped. I hate the gigantic plastic bumpers on front and rear. I hate the plastic door handles instead of chrome. I hate the fact nearly every car has bucket seats now. I hate the gigantic plastic consoles and dashboards that take up way too much space. You can't move from the passenger's seat to the driver's seat inside a car anymore. I hate the tiny rear windows on modern cars; with the oversized headrests now, You can't see out the back for backing up. And I especially hate the sameness of the designs. Cars all look like eggs or electric shavers now and you can't see a single straight line in the design and I can't tell a Ford from a Mercedes, from a Japanese piece of junk.
Even if I liked modern cars, I wouldn't buy a new car because most of the manufacturers are treating their workers badly. And I hate all the mergers and acquisitions of car companies. In the old days, manufacturers cared more about the tradition and integrity of their brands whereas today they are just MBA assholes who only care about their stockholders.
ileus
(15,396 posts)But I ride a jellybean car to work every day because an AMX just isn't economically feasible.