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Ford cuts production at 5 plants, has big backload of cars including Mustang

DETROIT — Ford said on Tuesday it plans to idle five North American vehicle assembly plants for a total of 10 weeks to reduce inventories of slow-selling models. The plants affected include three assembly plants in the United States and two in Mexico, the company said in a statement. The vehicle models include the Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ midsize sedans, the Ford Focus compact car, the Lincoln Continental and Ford Mustang, Ford Fiesta and the Ford Transit van. Ford said the Cuautitlan assembly plant that builds the Fiesta would be idled for three weeks. The Hermosillo, Mexico plant that builds the Fusion and MKZ and the Flat Rock, Michigan, factory that assembles Continentals and Mustangs will be idled for two weeks each. The Michigan Assembly plant that builds the Focus will be idled for one week, and the Kansas City assembly line that builds Transit vans will be down for two weeks. Ford did not give dates for the temporary shutdowns. The factories involved employ more than 15,000 people, according to Ford's website. The company did not say how many of those workers would face temporary layoffs. As of Sept. 1, Ford had 111 days' worth of unsold Mustangs, 87 days' supply of Fusions, and a 103 days' supply of Transit vans, according to Automotive News. Dealers had enough unsold Lincoln Continentals to last 162 days. Automakers aim for 65 to 70 days of inventory of most models. Ford and rival General Motors have wrestled most of this year to rein in high inventories of passenger cars as consumers have shifted to buying pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles. Production cuts slice into revenue, but also could help the automakers avoid deeper price cuts on vehicles they can sell. Reporting by Joe WhiteRelated Video: Image Credit: Reuters Plants/Manufacturing Ford Lincoln Convertible Coupe Minivan/Van Sedan ford transit inventory flat rock kansas city assembly plant hermosillo

Lincoln confirms the MKZ only has a few months left to live

Lincoln confirmed it will put the MKZ out to pasture in 2020. The sedan is based on the Ford Fusion, which is also scheduled to retire in the coming months as the company pivots towards high-riding models. Introduced at the 2012 New York Auto Show, the MKZ is the oldest member of the Lincoln portfolio by a wide margin, so its demise hardly comes as a surprise. The firm quietly broke the news as it announced plans to release an electric SUV built using technology borrowed from Rivian. The 2020 model is already out, and Lincoln tells Autoblog production will end in mid-2020, with sales continuing through the rest of the year. There will be no 2021 model.   Though never a home run, the MKZ will be remembered as a significant car because it ushered in the design language that characterizes every model Lincoln sells in 2020 when it received a mid-cycle update for the 2017 model year. And, with up to 400 horsepower on tap, it also stood out as the most powerful production Lincoln ever released. Power and an elegant design weren't enough to give the nameplate a significant boost, and annual sales dropped to 17,725 units in 2019 from a peak of 34,009 cars in 2014. Even the Navigator outsold it. In recent years, the MKZ perplexingly became the autonomous car world's darling. Faraday Future, Didi Chuxing, Aurora, and Qualcomm are among the companies that tested their technology with MKZ-based prototypes. Lincoln explained the Hermosillo, Mexico, factory that makes the MKZ and the Fusion will "prepare for production of new Ford vehicles," but it didn't specify which ones. There's absolutely no evidence the company is developing a direct replacement for its entry-level sedan, so the Continental will carry the torch on its own. Its days might be numbered, too, because several unverified reports claim Lincoln will again consign the nameplate to the attic in the coming years to free up the production capacity it needs to build electric cars in Flat Rock, Michigan. Once it goes, Lincoln's range will be entirely sedan-free for the first time since the company was created in 1917. Some automakers still believe in the sedan, like Audi, but Lincoln seems to be a student of Ford's philosophy. Related Video:    

Ford's cars being held up in Chinese ports in trade tensions with U.S.

BEIJING — Ford Motor Co's imported vehicles are being held up at Chinese ports, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, underscoring how U.S. goods are facing increased customs scrutiny in China amid a tense trade standoff. The three people said Ford and Lincoln vehicles were facing unusual delays at customs, with officials asking for extra technical checks. Two of the people said U.S.-made models of some German carmakers, mainly SUVs, being brought into China, were also affected. Ford was being asked to do extra checks on emission components, said a China-based Ford executive familiar with the matter, asking not be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. China's customs agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The holdups add to a growing list of American products facing issues at China's borders, as officials try to avert a full-blown trade war. Some trade experts said they believe Beijing is sending a defiant warning to Washington in response to sweeping U.S. trade demands made on China last week. Reuters reported Tuesday that China had ramped up inspections of pork shipped from the United States, after the country's customs agency said it would step up quarantine checks on American apples and logs. The second person, a China-based industry official with knowledge of the matter, said the delays for Ford — as well as some U.S.-made cars from BMW and Mercedes-Benz — had been going on for the last two weeks. "Customs pretends there are technical non-conformities of some nature that won't allow them to clear these U.S.-made cars through customs, but the U.S.-China trade frictions must be the background to this," he said. "Although no one will officially admit it." Responding to a request for comment from Reuters, a BMW spokesman said that "U.S.-made BMW cars have not been delayed at the ports as of last week and before." A Daimler spokeswoman said it was "monitoring the situation closely" regarding ongoing trade talks between China and the United States, but that she could not speculate further on other matters. The third person said the Ford issue, which had been noted by the United States government, and other holdups facing American goods, were clearly related to the trade dispute. A Ford spokeswoman in Shanghai when asked about the matter said: "We are closely monitoring our situation at the port." She declined to comment further.