President Donald Trump wants Ford to build the Focus Active in the USA now that the company has kiboshed plans to import it from China.
But with projected sales of just 50,000 units per year, Ford has no plans of going through the expense of tooling and prepping a factory to make the Focus Active in the USA.
In a tweet over the weekend, Ford welcomed news that Ford has decided not to import the fourth generation Focus Active from China due to the 25% import tariff he’s slapped on cars imported from that country.
With no understand of how the car industry works, the President said, “This car can now be BUILT IN THE U.S.A. and Ford will pay no tariffs!”
“Ford has abruptly killed a plan to sell a Chinese-made small vehicle in the U.S. because of the prospect of higher U.S. Tariffs.” CNBC. This is just the beginning. This car can now be BUILT IN THE U.S.A. and Ford will pay no tariffs!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 9, 2018
In statement Ford told NPR, “As we said last month, it would not be profitable to build the Focus Active in the U.S. given an expected annual sales volume of fewer than 50,000 units and its competitive segment.”
Earlier this year, Ford announced it would eventually discontinue all traditional passenger lines in the USA and Canada, replacing them with SUVs and crossovers. The only model spared was the Mustang, with the next generation Focus Active pseudo crossover hatch replacing today’s sedan and hatch models.
Source: NPR
