Ford mulls new China car plant

[OhioChick]

2007-12-04 09:23


Ford Motor Co, which is closing factories in North America, is mulling a new car plant in China with its Japanese unit Mazda Motor Co and local partner Chang'an Motor Corp, to meet growing demand.

Kenneth Hsu, spokesman for Ford's China operations, told China Daily: "We are gauging the need for further expansion of our manufacturing capacity. We are considering all kinds of options."
The US carmaker plans to reach a final decision by early next year, Hsu said, declining to give details.

"Local governments are keen to have a new plant from Ford in their regions," he said.

Chang'an Ford Mazda Automobile Co, a tripartite joint venture, now has two factories in the western municipality of Chongqing and Nanjing in the east with a combined production capacity of 410,000 cars a year.

Jeffrey Shen, president of the venture, said it will move 225,000 cars this year, mainly boosted by the hot-selling Focus compact model, up from roughly 160,000 units in 2006.

<snip> The struggling US carmaker said two years ago it planned to shut down at least 10 plants in North America by 2010 as part of its turnaround plan.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2007-12/04/content_6296588.htm

[JeffR]

1. "Turnaround plan" - that's rich!

Yeah, take a thriving American company and run it into the ground. Go from making quality, affordable cars to making substandard, gas-guzzling pieces of obsolete crud. And don't forget to ship as many good-paying American jobs as possible overseas in the bargain.

There's been a lot of that "turnaround planning" going on in Detroit for the last 40 years, it seems.