Fords will site new factory in U.S.

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32640, 23 June 1971, Page 19

Fords will site new factory in U.S.

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

LONDON, June 22.

Frequent strikes in the British car industry have contributed to the decision by the Ford Motor Company to site a new factory for engine production in the United States, and not in Britain, according to a Ford spokesman in London.

He was commenting on a Detroit announcement last night that Fords would build a factory at Lima, Ohio, to produce four - cylinder engines for the Pinto car.

A company spokesman in Detroit emphasised that the company was not transferring production of the engines to America from Great Britain and Germany, but his London counterpart commented: “We have been unable to make the best use of our existing capacity because of strikes in our own works and in suppliers’ factories.

“The British company’s reputation has not been enhanced by the many strikes

in the industry generally during 1970, which were followed by the catastrophic strike earlier this year that paralysed our Dagenham works.

CONFIDENCE DESTROYED “Such events as Ford’s, and among suppliers, certainly destroyed the confidence of many people abroad —and not only in the United States —in Ford of Britain as a dependable source of supply.”

A 10-week strike at all Ford factories in Britain earlier this year cost the firm an estimated SUS24Om. In the last week, the company’s Halewood works was closed because of a dispute over the dismissal of a shop steward. The company’s management, union leaders and Government conciliators

are seeking an end to the dispute, which threatens to affect other Ford plants.

The Detroit announcement means that Ford’s will build four-cylinder engines in the United States for the first time for 36 years. A multi-million dollar extension will be built at the Lima works with a capacity to produce 500,000 Pinto engines a year, mainly to meet the demand for Ford fourcylinder engines in the United States and Canadian markets.