With new Lincoln production going to Atlanta and Mexico, Ford’s Wixom plant – the only Lincoln car production plant
for decades – has little left in its future. The Ford GT is built there, but obviously that’s not a long-term source of
jobs, and the Thunderbird wrapped up earlier this year. So where does that leave things? In all likelihood, the plant
will soon be “temporarily” closed down; a permanent closing would need to be delayed until UAW contract negotiations in
2007. With Lincoln going towards platforms shared with other Ford product, it makes little sense to keep a seperate
assembly plant, especially when it’s Ford’s largest plant in North America. I’d like to think that Ford could reverse
its direction and launch a new Mark IX and Continental on a proper RWD chassis built at Wixom (Lincoln Mark , but that
doesn’t look to be the future for the brand or its longtime assembly plant.
End of the road for Ford's Wixom plant?
With new Lincoln production going to Atlanta and Mexico, Ford’s Wixom plant – the only Lincoln car production plant for decades – has little left in its future. The Ford GT is built there, but obviously that’s not a long-term source of jobs, and the Thunderbird wrapped up earlier this year. So where does that leave things? In all likelihood, the plant will soon be “temporarily” closed down; a permanent closing would need to be delayed until UAW contract negotiations in 2007. With Lincoln going towards platforms shared with other Ford product, it makes little sense to keep a seperate assembly plant, especially when it’s Ford’s largest plant in North America. I’d like to think that Ford could reverse its direction and launch a new Mark IX and Continental on a proper RWD chassis built at Wixom (Lincoln Mark , but that doesn’t look to be the future for the brand or its longtime assembly plant.