Ford Motor Company will be shutting down its oldest factory in Brazil rendering over 2700 people jobless. This move to restructure will bring to an end Ford’s presence in the South American commercial truck business sector.
The plant located in an industrial suburb of Sao Paulo has been in operation for over five decades, having been established in 1967. While it earlier manufactured various auto models, it switched to focusing on trucks — F-4000 and F-350 — in 2001.
The Company will probably now concentrate more on the car business alone in the more recent plant and only surviving plant in Bahia. However, the layoffs could not have been more badly timed with Brazil facing an unemployment rate of more than 11 per cent.
Ford has meanwhile entered into an alliance with Volkswagen AG, and the two auto manufacturers will look at combining capacity while working on various projects together.
Sao Paulo’s industrial growth was mainly driven by the automotive industry.
The plant had to be shut down due to slow growth post-recession. The Company will also stop manufacturing Focus compact cars in Argentina later this year in a bid to curtail the losses it has been incurring in South America.
