buying american...

[JohnWester]

won't mean buying ford soon...

Ford reportedly plans Mexico plant
UAW says it hasn't been informed of decision
BY BILL KOENIG and JOHN LIPPERT
Bloomberg News

Ford Motor Co., the second-biggest U.S. automaker, hasn't told the United Auto Workers of any plans to invest $9.2 billion in its operations in Mexico, the union's president and a vice president said.

The Oakland Press of Pontiac, Mich., reported Wednesday that Ford plans to invest the money between now and 2012 to build a new plant and boost production of engines and transmissions in Mexico. The newspaper said it obtained a 28-page company document detailing the plans.

"That's speculation and I don't comment on speculation," Executive Vice President Mark Fields, who oversees Ford's North and South American auto operations, told reporters at dinner in Washington Wednesday.

"Nobody at Ford has said anything about it," Gerald Bantom, who's retiring as vice president of the union's Ford department, said at a union convention in Las Vegas.

Investing in Mexico may rankle union members. Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford plans to close 14 North American factories and eliminate 30,000 jobs in the region by 2012. The UAW represents only workers in the U.S.

One of those plants is Ford's Ranger pickup plant in St. Paul, where about 1,900 people work.

Union President Ron Gettelfinger, elected Wednesday to a second four-year term, said he didn't know of any plans for Ford to expand in Mexico. Asked if he would welcome such a plan, Gettelfinger replied, "Have a nice day."

Assuming the report is correct, "this will create problems," said Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of California at Berkeley. "The timing for Ford couldn't be worse."

Ford's policy is not to discuss labor matters publicly, an effort to maintain good relations with its unions.

Ford's Mexican operations include a plant in Hermosillo, which opened in 1986 and employs about 1,800 people. That factory builds the new Fusion, Milan and Zephyr sedans. It also has a plant in Cuautitlan, which opened in 1970 and employs 900 people who build F-150 and Super Duty pickups.

Ford's Fields devised the company's North American restructuring plan, called the Way Forward.

Fields, in a January speech in Los Angeles, said Ford would emphasize its U.S. roots as it looks to revive its North American operations, which had a pretax loss of $1.6 billion last year. Under Way Forward, the unit is to be profitable by 2008.

Fields, in a speech Wednesday in Washington, criticized automakers based outside the U.S. that run advertisements emphasizing their U.S. plants. He didn't identify any companies. Toyota Motor Corp. and Hyundai Motor Co. have run such ads.

"So, despite all their claims about being "American,' most of the cars and trucks the foreign automakers sell in America aren't actually made in America," Fields said in the speech, according to a copy of his remarks provided by Ford.

"What's more, most of the design and engineering jobs are not located in America," Fields said. "And the profits from the sales of those foreign cars are largely not spent in America."

[jigglestick]

tsk, tsk, tsk ::)

[WoodChuck]

????  WHAT DO YOU DRIVE. ?????

[jigglestick]

not an 06 or 07 ford, that's for sure.
does a 1927 model t count as "bad"?
where's the cut off for "good" or "bad" fords?

when you get down to brass tacks, lets look at all the parts for ALL the auto and truck makers in the usa and see where they are made.

I am willing to bet ford is not alone on this list.

[WoodChuck]

 :) :) 1927 sounds like a good year or maybe the 1950,s A. you are most likely right about the other auto makers, maybe a briggs and stratten  ethenol car is due. if B and S is not mexican made.