Ford Confirms New $1.6B Plant In Mexico, UAW Fires Back

Ford has confirmed plans for a new assembly plant in Mexico, likely fueling more criticism of the company in the current presidential election.

"We're going to be in vesting in a new plant in Mexico's San Luis Potosi state to produce more small cars for North America," said Ford President of the America's Joe Hinrichs.  "It's a $1.6 billion U.S. investment that will create 2800 additional direct jobs by 2020."

Hinrichs told WWJ AutoBeat Reporter Jeff Gilbert that construction will begin this summer.  The first small cars will start rolling off the line at the plant in 2018.

While the new jobs will be in Mexico, Hinrichs says they could lead to more engineering and design jobs at the company's Dearborn headquarters.

But the UAW wasn't ready to be reassured, calling the announcement a disappointment and "very troubling."

"For every investment in Mexico it means jobs that could have and should have been available right here in the USA," said UAW President Dennis Williams in a statement. "This is another example of what's wrong with NAFTA and why the TPP would be a disaster for the citizens of the United States. Companies continue to run to low-wage countries and import back into the United States. This is a broken system that needs to be fixed."

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has also singled out Ford for criticism, promising to force the company to stop building cars in Mexico. Hinrichs pointed out that Ford is a global manufacturer that builds cars all around the world, and its presence in Mexico is in line with the rest of the auto industry.

"We're the fifth largest Mexico in Mexico," said Hinrichs.  "We're the second largest manufacturer in North America.  So, you can see how large our presence is here in the U.S."

Ford also pointed out the company has invested $10.2 billion in the U.S. over the past five years, and will invest $9 billion more in the next four years.

"The last time we built a plant in Mexico was 1986," said Hinrichs.  "That's been over 30 years.  That just shows how much investment we've put in the U.S. over the same time period."

There's no word yet what Ford products will be build at the new plant in Mexico, or what the capacity of the plant will be.  Ford has said that the Focus and C-Max now made at the Wayne Assembly plant will be moving out.  It has not confirmed UAW comments that the vehicles will be made in Mexico.

Hinrichs, however, said that Ford needs the additional capacity in the U.S. to build new utilities and crossovers.

"This will not have an effect on U.S. jobs.  the Michigan Assembly plant is not expected to have a job loss, with the new products that are coming into that plant.  With the four SUVs that we've announced are new by 2020 are very important extensions to our portfolio and it allows us to grow."