Posted on 02/10/2016 6:17:31 PM PST by Helicondelta
Published reports are saying that Ford plans to build a new auto plant in Mexico, with plans to more than double production there
Ford plans to build a new assembly complex in San Luis Potosi and expand an existing facility near Mexico City, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Journal says the Dearborn, Michigan, carmaker will add 500,000 units of annual capacity there, beginning in 2018. That would be more than double last year's production in that country. The newspaper cites unnamed people briefed on the plan.
Costs for the project likely will exceed $1 billion, people familiar with the details said, with factory construction beginning later this year. It follows a $2.5 billion investment Ford announced last spring to build an engine and a transmission plant in Mexico.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
You’re right, I hadn’t heard of that. Congrats to them.
You mean to the McDonalds that hires gringos?!
This is the same BS that was sold to us 25 years ago when NAFTA was pushed through. All the sordid little dirty jobs would be done elsewhere and we would do New Economy Networking jobs.
'Member?
Except the networking jobs got outsourced to India or insourced to more Indians on H1Bs. And the Americans just got told to go home and suck it up by garbage like Bob Iger.
Sorry. Not falling for it.
The richest man on the planet lives in Mexico. Let him invest in a Mexican car company to compete for sales in Mexico and also the world. That's the "free trade" that Smith was talking about, not cross border labor rate arbitrages.
Why should the American consumer balk at a truck made in Mexico. They are driving Toyotas, Nissans, Benz, etc. Not dishonest, just good old capitalism.
Ford is also ceasing all production in Australia this year. Maybe they’re planning to shift all production to lower labor cost countries.
Google "Labor Union Featherbedding"
“How about Mexico start their own car company and employ their own people???
How about Ford keep their plants in the US and hire OUR own people???
That way, both wins...”
Unfortunately that won’t work. First of all, Mexicans, on their own, couldn’t build a decent washing machine. Secondly, as long as the UAW controls factory wages in the US, the Big Three will not be competitive. I’m not a fan of moving manufacturing off-shore, but I don’t see how the US Manufacturers can compete when even their American-based foreign automakers are in right-to-work states, and owing to the newness of their operations here, they haven’t the legacy costs that are killing Detroit. The Big Three have huge pension costs that only get worse year over year. If they don’t move out of the country, they will eventually go out of business. I don’t know the entire supply chain, but I would imagine that the Mexican faclilties are primarily doing assembly. And FWIW we have a late model Chevrolet Avalanche that was built in Monterrey, Mexico, and it is well built.
See my post. #12.
And he will make the trains run on time!
I am so glad I bought all my American cars built in America by Americans. Hopefully they’ll still be on the road after I die.
If you want fewer Mexicans coming to the U.S., you should be happy when factories are built there.
Good points. Too many Freepers think trade is bad for the U.S.
There is no contradiction. The Mexicans pouring across the border don’t have the skillset to work in a Ford plant in Mexico. These are very low skilled individuals at the bottom of the Mexican social ladder.
Unlike foreign workers, UAW spend their wages in the United States which resonates through the local economy, and they pay taxes here as well. I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss union workers as unwanted elements of the gathering anti-establishment coalition.
>>I am so glad I bought all my American cars built in America by Americans. <<
Your newest car is from before 1981? If it is after that all or most of it was built outside the USA.
Yes. All of mine are before 1981. I’ve had newer but they are all GONE now.
I thought trump stopped this.
Look for the union label...
Me: Hey Ford, hear you’re building more cars in Mexico.
Ford: Yep! We can build ‘em a lot cheaper down there.
Me: Following that line of thinking, do you sell these Mexico-made cars for less than comparable American-made Fords.
Ford: Nope! Same price for both. Fair is fair.
Me: Who gets the dollars that are the difference in price?
Ford: Uhhhh... look, a squirrel!
Yep. In South Carolina.
Also lost in this debate is the idea of quality. Consumers do not only want cheap. They want quality for the best price. For example, I am committed to Honda cars. They are quality vehicles and so long as they stay that way, I will remain loyal. They have been able to increase their prices in the last few decades because consumers know they are worth it. There was a period of time when dealerships were actually able to sell their Hondas for more than retail value — openly saying there was a markup. The cars were that good.
Now, there was a time when American made cars were of very poor quality. When Honda started making some models in the USA, my husband and I actually checked the manufacture location to make sure we got a “made in Japan” version. They were more reliable at that time. Sad. But true.
So some of the whining about jobs may have to do with issues of work ethic and quality control. Also Unions can put so many demands on the company that they lose their competitive price edge AND their quality edge.
It is not as simple as some people paint it. Also I am uncomfortable with the idea of “American jobs” being saved by government. We as a nation do not own jobs. We are supposedly free people who can own businesses and employ other free people who can take or not take those jobs. All government should do is make sure laws are obeyed by all. Instead they act as though they are super manager of the business or babysitter of the employees. The bent of humans to corruption is not isolated to business owners. The government is very corruptible (and they have the guns and the keys to take away freedom and means to confiscate property). Employees are corruptible. Unions are corruptible. I get tired of this overriding idea that big business is bad but government and employees and Unions are altruistic. That’s just not true.
With all the protectionism on trade will come a world reaction of hostility to our products.
Have conservatives lost their faith in liberty, capitalism and competition? A free market has a wonderful way of keeping the focus on best quality for the best price, which motivates good labor practices as well as hard working, quality employees. The more government tries to pick winners and losers the more we will get garbage for a higher price. We may have higher paying jobs, but we may have trouble keeping them when we keep being late for work because our million dollar car keeps breaking down on our commute, as well as other problems.
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