The automaker has announced that it will back off plans to build a $1.6 million manufacturing facility in Mexico, opting to push more of its resources into electric vehicles.
The company’s chief executive, Mark Fields, said Ford would pump $4.5 billion over the next five years to help the company bring to market 13 electric vehicles, some with self-driving capabilities.
Part of that investment—$700 million—will be used to expand an assembly plant in Flat Rock, Michigan, creating some 700 jobs.
The timing of the announcement raised questions about what motivated the decision.
In an interview with CNN Money, Fields stopped short of saying Ford’s opting out of the proposed plant in Mexico was solely in response to Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric.
“This makes sense for our business,” he said. Fields did, however, point to “a more positive U.S. manufacturing business environment under president-elect Trump” as one of the deciding factors.
Fields called it “a vote of confidence” for some of Trump’s “pro-growth” policies.
At the Flat Rock facility, Fields said the company intends to manufacture a “fully electric small SUV, coming by 2020, engineered to deliver an estimated range of at least 300 miles, to be built at the Flat Rock plant and sold in North America, Europe and Asia.”
The announcement is also seen as a move to boost Ford’s reputation in the eyes of U.S. consumers.
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