Ford will shut down 10 N.A. plants in early January
A bitingly cold wind is sweeping through the Motor City this day, but the bigger chill continues to be the rapidly increasing number of idle plants from Detroit's automakers. As part of a previously-announced bid to trim first-quarter output by nearly 38%, Ford now says it will shut down ten North American factories the week of January 5. Unlike Chrysler's planned one month downtime (where they eerily won't commit to start dates), the Blue Oval has confirmed plans to re-light the fires in eight of those plants beginning the week of January 12.
That means that during the week of January 5, Ford's only active North American plants will be in Dearborn (F-150), and Kansas City (F-150, Escape/Mercury Mariner). The week of January 12 will see all facilities up save Hermosillo, Mexico (Fusion, Milan, Lincoln MKZ) and Oakville, Ontario, where the Flex, Edge, and MKX are built.
Ford is angling to cut down its quarterly output to just 430,000 vehicles, and shutdowns at staggered intervals are expected to continue throughout early next year.
[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req. | Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MachinaDC5 3:33PM (12/18/2008)
Merry Christmas from Ford.
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Mobius_1 3:47PM (12/18/2008)
And a not-so-happy New Year.
Hugh G 4:31PM (12/18/2008)
If you a$$wipes would go buy a car instead of hoarding your money, they wouldn't have to close the plants.
scott 3:47PM (12/18/2008)
I don't think any of the companies want workers in the pants when the bankruptcy decision comes down
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Yaroukh 4:17PM (12/18/2008)
Do you think swapping pants among themselves would help?
That One Person 4:36PM (12/18/2008)
Hey, whatever they can do to save themselves I am all for. Luckily, these shutdowns are temporary.
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Lane 3:51PM (12/18/2008)
Ford isn't in a position of needing to go bankrupt, that would be GM and Chrysler. You cannot simply just keep producing when there aren't customers. Don't worry, GMs announcement is just around the corner and I'm betting it will make Ford and Chryslers look good.
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Beat-it-nerd 4:05PM (12/18/2008)
Do you really believe that? Ford is right behind the other two in terms cash burn. They said that they may have enough cash to get through the next year, but the game has continue to change since then. This is an unprecedented crisis in the auto industry and not one single auto manufacturer is able to stave off a significant cash burn. You just hear about the Big 3 all day and you think that they are the only ones experiencing this issue. Besides, If the other two go BK, you can bet your sweet ass Ford is right behind. No question about it.
happy_penguin 4:08PM (12/18/2008)
I certainly hope you're wrong because Ch 7 will end up Ch 11 and the state of Michigan will be next.
happy_penguin 4:09PM (12/18/2008)
Actually I mean Ch 11 will become Ch 7.
Judy Zik 11:20PM (12/18/2008)
I don't think for a moment Ford is going bankrupt. Yes they are burning through cash the last couple of months but they squeaked out a profit in the first quarter of this year. They managed that because they really trimmed costs plus they have a huge bank balance right now. Also their turnaround is almost complete. The new Fusion is hitting the market and the other new products are almost here.
Closing plants like this is a good idea. It will be a rough few months for the automakers and some of them may disappear but long term those who survive will be stronger. People will need to replace their vehicles eventually. We are going to have a whole bunch of built up demand and likely less competition when this is all over. That will be good for Ford long term and they are the only one of the Big 2.5 with the cash to ride it out even before the government gives them a dime.
mike884 3:52PM (12/18/2008)
Don't forget that they are only closing for a week...
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TORONTO 3:55PM (12/18/2008)
Sorry to be off topic.....
But is that a Kawasaki sticker ???
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Tony 11:22PM (12/18/2008)
SSHHH! Toronto!! You don't want to awake any anti foreign sentiment amongst the NASCAR lov'in Auto Bloggers. The last thing we need to be tell'in the Yanks is that the Japanese actually do build the Big Three's cars.
By chance, does anyone know where the V-6 Chevy Equinox engine is manufactured? I really want to buy American but nobody will tell me where the engine or transmission is built. I wonder.
bonh 3:55PM (12/18/2008)
hell, not like the dealers are selling much anyways...
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bill 3:59PM (12/18/2008)
While all of this is going on we need to remember that many of the current economic problems we are having are because of the U.S. Congress. Sure, the auto companies have made a mess of it, but Congress has made an even bigger mess. Members of Congress would like us to not focus on them, but we need to keep them front and center while this economic mess sorts itself out.
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ConceptVBS 4:03PM (12/18/2008)
What is point of "buy American" propaganda when robots that Detroit use to build the cars are from Japan (Kawasaki in this picture).
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Yaroukh 4:19PM (12/18/2008)
how about Profit* staying in the US?
*) don't laugh! it may happen one day ;))
jpm100 6:18PM (12/18/2008)
Maybe because they build more cars in one day than there are robots in the whole plant.
Frank 4:17PM (12/18/2008)
This is good news. They won't be building crappy cars that nobody wants. They are toast. They should just do us all a favor and die. Nobody will miss them... oh wait. I thought this was the story about Chrysler shutting down production.
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