Ford Chooses China, Not Mexico, to Build Its New Focus<br />By BILL VLASICJUNE 20, 2017<br />DETROIT — Ford Motor said on Tuesday that it would build its next-generation small car for American consumers<br />in China rather than Mexico, where the automaker canceled plans for a new factory this year.<br />Ford, the nation’s second-largest automaker behind General Motors, also said on Tuesday<br />that it would invest $900 million in a Kentucky plant to produce new versions of its Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator sport-utility vehicles.<br />The shift of production of the Ford Focus to China was among a number of manufacturing moves announced by the company,<br />and one of the first strategic steps taken by its new chief executive, Jim Hackett.<br />Ford said it would begin making the Focus in China for global markets in 2019, after production ends at its current location in Michigan.<br />The company was building a $1.6 billion assembly plant for the next Focus model in Mexico,<br />but it ran into stiff opposition from President Trump and then canceled the project.
