November US Auto Sales Move Industry Closer to Another Record Year

“All economic indicators show significantly improved optimism about the U.S. economy including consumer and business sentiment, which continue to drive a very healthy U.S. auto industry,” said Mustafa Mohatarem, General Motor Co’s (GM.N) chief economist. “We believe the U.S. auto industry is well-positioned for sales to continue at or near record levels into 2017.”

Ford Motor Co. is continuing with plans to move small car production to Mexico despite criticism from President-elect Donald Trump and a threat of tariffs on the Mexican produced vehicles.

“We have made the decision to move the Focus out, and we’re making that investment now,” said Ford CEO Mark Fields in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “When you look at moving the Focus out of our Michigan assembly plant, that’s to make room for new products—zero jobs affected, zero jobs impacted.”

“This isn’t a Carrier situation,” said Fields in the WSJ interview. Fields said production in Mexico will help keep vehicle prices in line with customer expectations. Last year’s labor contract with the United Autoworkers included a commitment to invest $9 billion in U.S. plants which is expected to create or support 8,500 union jobs at Ford facilities.

Fields said in a Bloomberg interview, he wasn’t sure if Trump would follow through on the threat to impose a 35 percent tariff on Ford cars built in Mexico.

“If a tariff was imposed, it would be imposed on the entire industry, not just singling out a single company,” Fields said. “When you look at the production and supply chains and how they’re integrated between the three countries [Mexico, Canada and the U.S.], putting a tariff on that would have a negative impact on all the economies.”