Ford Spends $75 Million to Retool Michigan Truck Plant for Small Car Production
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada 
on 08.27.08
Ford Adapting to New Reality
GM has already announced that it would invest more in small cars, a hot market. Now Ford is announcing a $75 million investment in its Michigan truck plant to retool it for C-class small car production.
"The plant will begin converting its body shop in November when the tooling and equipment specific to the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator will be disassembled and transferred to Kentucky Truck Plant [...] in the interim, 1,000 employees will be transferred next door to Wayne Assembly Plant where a third crew will be added in January to accommodate increased production of the hot-selling Ford Focus"
Small Vehicles at Michigan Plant: Only in 2010
Retooling a manufacturing plant of that size isn't easy or quick, so the C-class vehicles will only start production in 2010. If Ford had been a bit faster to react and had make the change a few years ago, it would already have these vehicles now that demand is higher than supply in many areas.
Two Other Truck Plants to Follow
In 2010, Cuautitlan Assembly will begin production of the Fiesta (only in Europe right now - lets hope they'll bring the 63 MPG Fiesta ECOnetic over), replacing F-Series pickups. Louisville Assembly, home of the Ford Explorer mid-size SUV, will make more small vehicles from the automaker’s global C-car platform the following year, but we don't know which ones yet.
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Ford Official Release
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About time. better late than never, I guess.
Yes, I agree. It seemed like both Ford and GM was going to outsource all small car manufacturing to other countries. With high gas and fuel prices, it's going to cost more to ship those cars to America, hence the renewed focus on retooling American factories.
the word greed comes to mind,,why are american mfg on the dull edge instead of the cutting edge,,they have know about better fuel economy for years,,why sell us a good efficient car when they can sell us a expensive gas gussler?? i'm keeping my old v-6 mustang 'til i can get something that will go 50 miles a day on electric!!
I guess it is a case of
Too little
Too late
I bought Ford stock because I was impressed with the first-generation Focus, and I thought that was the direction the company was taken. Five years later, the stock has lost half its value, they're aren't dividends anymore, and the Focus is treated like a leper by corporate. Meanwhile, GM is importing its excellent and efficient Opel line. That's what I get for being patriotic....(*sigh!*)