SOUTHFIELD, Mich. �� Ford Motor Co. was a target of Donald Trump's criticism during his campaign for building cars in Mexico, and now that Trump will be president, Ford said it's willing to work with him to keep jobs in the U.S. �� provided Trump puts the right policies in place, according to the automaker's chief executive officer.
"We will be very clear in the things we'd like to see," Mark Fields said in an interview.
Among them, according to Fields: currency-manipulation rules to promote free and fair trade, tax reform and safety guidelines for autonomous vehicles.
Fields said Ford plans to lobby Trump to soften U.S. and state fuel-economy rules. They hurt profits by forcing automakers to build more electric cars and hybrids than are warranted by customer demand, he said.
"In 2008, there were 12 electrified vehicles offered in the U.S. market and it represented 2.3 percent of the industry," Fields said. "Fast forward to 2016, there's 55 models, and year to date it's 2.8 percent."
This isn't a formula for success, he said. "You've got to have customers, so obviously there would be pressure on the business if there's not a market," he said.
The No. 2 U.S. carmaker was one of the companies that Trump singled out during his campaign for sending production to Mexico. The Republican threatened to slap a 35 percent tariff on cars that Ford builds in Mexico and ships to the U.S.
After the election, Trump phoned Executive Chairman Bill Ford to discuss the carmaker's plan to move manufacturing of the Lincoln MKC sport-utility vehicle to Mexico from a plant in Louisville, Ky., Fields said. The discussion helped persuade Ford to keep building the Lincoln in the U.S.
Trump influenced the decision "because of what he's talking about in terms of his economic policies, whether it's tax reform or otherwise," Fields said.
Ford received no incentives for keeping Lincoln MKC production in Kentucky, though the automaker never planned to close that Louisville plant, which also builds the Escape crossover that outsells the Lincoln version 12 to 1. Ford already makes the Lincoln MKZ sedan and the Fusion family car in Mexico. It's building a new $1.6 billion small-car factory in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, which will create 2,800 jobs there by 2020.
Ford still plans to move its Focus compact and C-Max hybrid to Mexico from a Michigan factory.
Since 2010, nine automakers, including General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler, have announced investments of more than $24 billion in Mexico, where wages are 80 percent lower than in the U.S. Annual auto output in Mexico may more than double this decade, from 2 million to 5 million vehicles, according to the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Ford has said it's just the fifth-largest producer of vehicles in Mexico while it's the top automotive manufacturer in the U.S. The company said it's added nearly 28,000 jobs in the U.S. over the past five years. Ford employs 85,000 workers in the U.S. and 8,800 in Mexico.
The day after the election, General Motors announced it would end the third shift at assembly plants in Ohio and Michigan in January. The automaker is eliminating almost 2,100 jobs because consumers prefer trucks and sport utility vehicles over the small cars built at the two factories.
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(Mark Niquette, Richard Clough and Kevin Cirilli contributed to this report. Lippert reported from Chicago.)
