The tentative Ford UAW labor agreement signed Monday by union leadership has not yet been ratified; that final step awaits a group vote from the UAW’s 53,000 hourly Ford workers later this week. But if ratified, reports Automotive News, the Ford UAW deal could mean the end of domestic production is nigh for as many as four of the automaker’s current models.
Reportedly, the Ford UAW agreement stipulates that production of the Focus, C-MAX, Fusion, and Taurus would only last through the end of current product lifecycles. Ford had already announced the cessation of Focus and C-MAX production at its Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, sparking rumors that those two models would shift across the border to Mexico. The Fusion is currently produced at both Flat Rock, Michigan, and Hermosillo Stamping & Assembly in Mexico, and Automotive News speculates that the Taurus could be discontinued, or moved to a low-cost country such as China.
This would leave the Ford Mustang and Lincoln Continental as the only two car models still produced domestically, both at Ford’s Flat Rock plant.
At the same time, the Ford UAW agreement would also mean the introduction of unidentified new models to Ford’s plants in Chicago, Illinois, in Wayne, Michigan, and in Avon Lake, Ohio. Ford has also agreed to invest $9 billion in the United States over the next four years, leading to the creation or retention of some 8,500 jobs.
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