Goin' South: Leaked Document Says Ford Plans Huge Expansion in Mexico
Friday, June 16, 2006
DEARBORN, Mich. Ford may invest up to $9.2 billion in Mexico through 2012 to leverage lower operating costs there, at a time when it is shuttering some of its U.S. plants and laying off thousands of workers.
That information was leaked in a confidential 28-page document that appears to have been widely disseminated to media by a Ford employee, first appearing in The Oakland Press, a suburban Detroit newspaper.
The Mexican expansion could create up to 150,000 jobs. A Ford spokesman said the report is "speculative." In return for its investment, the automaker would get at least $500 million in government grants, according to the document.
The document was prepared for Ford's top brass for a presentation in early April to officials of the Mexican government. It describes the country as a quick, reliable and proven manufacturing base that can yield lower fixed costs than current U.S. facilities. The plan calls for building a new assembly plant and overhauling Ford's truck plant in Cuautitlān.
Ford apparently plans to triple its purchases from Mexican vendors as well. Some engineering and purchasing jobs could move south of the border in the proposed expansion.
