The Ford Motor Company will move its electric vehicle production from Michigan to Mexico. They also aim to create 850 jobs by adding production of an autonomous car in Flat Rock, Michigan, where they will also continue building the Mustang and Lincoln Continental.
Ford had previously stated they would not build a new plant in Mexico due to Donald Trump’s threat to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Trump also ridiculed companies who manufactured their vehicles in Mexico.
Ford’s latest announcement, however, claims jobs won’t go missing with the move to Mexico. They claim they’ve already negotiated future domestic jobs with the union, which represents 59,000 individuals working for the Ford company.
“During the 2015 negotiations with Ford, we secured significant product investment for our members at the Flat Rock assembly plant and other manufacturing facilities in the U.S.,” said Jimmy Settles, Vice President of UAW. “Yesterday’s announcement by Ford to expand production of autonomous vehicles at Flat Rock, and move a low-volume electric SUV to Mexico does not affect our jobs or economic investment commitments.”
Jim Farley, president of global markets for Ford, said Ford is aiming to sell its first fully autonomous vehicles to businesses like commercial delivery fleets and construction companies by 2021. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Farley said that the move will make Flat Rock the “center of excellence” for future driverless vehicles.
He also said that the decision shows the start of “the foundation of Ford’s bet on AV’s [autonomous-drive vehicles].” He ended by saying, “We’re very excited about what we are doing.”
This article was inspired by Bloomberg // Ford Now Plans to Move Production of Electric SUVs From Michigan to Mexico