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Ford’s been in the news this week including just today as UK media reports said it was thinking about shutting remaining UK (engine) plants following the ‘Brexit’ decision by Britain to exit the European Union (EU). Not so, we were told firmly by no less than the CFO. This all came after pretty reasonable second quarter results this week – especially in Europe after the earlier painful ‘rightsizing’. We also had an update on the after-effects of the Genk plant closure in Belgium. For the record, Ford exited UK car making (at Dagenham) as long ago as 2002 (coinciding with a Fiesta model changeover) and, more recently, transferred the remnants of Transit van production to Turkey, again coinciding with a model changeover. It also axed stamping and tooling operations in Dagenham. All of these moves are, of course, devastating for the redundant workers and their communities, as the Genk situation a year on shows, but is offset by a much more profitable Ford (albeit still facing headwinds in other regions) with improved job security for its remaining workers.
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Brexit remained in the news this week as we reported on a new confidence survey of four business sectors while an upcoming change of guard over Mercedes-Benz sales and marketing drew a lot of reader interest. General Motors is re-evaluating its planned US$1bn spend to date in India and has put on hold moves to bring a new car platform to the country. Down in Brazil, Nissan launched a long-awaited new compact crossover and GM’s local Chevrolet unit revamped an entry level model line. We also took a look at FCA’s future global manufacturing footprint strategy.
Have a good weekend.
Graeme Roberts, Deputy Editor, just-auto.com
