Ford Chooses China, Not Mexico, to Build Its New Focus
By BILL VLASICJUNE 20, 2017
DETROIT — Ford Motor said on Tuesday that it would build its next-generation small car for American consumers
in China rather than Mexico, where the automaker canceled plans for a new factory this year.
Ford, the nation’s second-largest automaker behind General Motors, also said on Tuesday
that it would invest $900 million in a Kentucky plant to produce new versions of its Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator sport-utility vehicles.
The shift of production of the Ford Focus to China was among a number of manufacturing moves announced by the company,
and one of the first strategic steps taken by its new chief executive, Jim Hackett.
Ford said it would begin making the Focus in China for global markets in 2019, after production ends at its current location in Michigan.
The company was building a $1.6 billion assembly plant for the next Focus model in Mexico,
but it ran into stiff opposition from President Trump and then canceled the project.
