In a first, Ford to import Focus small car from China

Ford will shift production of the Focus compact vehicle from the United States to China, marking the first time the automaker will export a auto from China back to the United States.

The current Focus will be phased out of production in Wayne, Michigan in mid-2018, according to Joe Hinrichs, president of global operations.

DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. will export vehicles from China to the USA for the first time starting in 2019.

No U.S.jobs will be affected by shifting Focus production to China, Ford said, adding that it employs more U.S. hourly workers and builds more vehicles in the United States than any other automaker.

Given dwindling overall USA demand for small cars such as the Focus, "we thought this was the best balance of that cost/capital tradeoff", Hinrichs said.

In January, the company announced that it would cancel plans to build a plant in Mexico and instead use the capacity of another plant in Mexico to produce the Focus. Once Focus production moves overseas, the plant will be changed to ready itself for the Ranger pickup in late 2018, and Bronco SUV in 2020.

He also stressed that Ford will export more vehicles to China than it imports. Those vehicles will go on sale this fall and will be exported to more than 55 markets globally, the company said. The investment is said to have secured 1,000 jobs at the Kentucky plant. But Hinrichs said small cars remain an important part of Ford's business. The decision also signals a shift in strategy at Ford, which is responding to low fuel prices and to USA consumer demand by de-emphasizing small cars while boosting US production of trucks and SUVs.

But Ford, whose CEO Jim Hackett succeeded Mark Fields in late May, announced that discussions to move manufacturing of the Focus model to China had been ongoing for several months.

Hinrichs said Chinese wages are lower than wages in Mexico, although the cost to ship the vehicles erases some of that advantage.

General Motors Co (GM.N) has been exporting Buick and Cadillac cars from China to the United States, as has Volvo Cars, a unit of Chinese automaker Geely (0175.HK).

"We expect no immediate impact on our levels of employment as a result of this decision", Ford de Mexico said in a statement after being asked by Reuters how the announcement would affect its plant in Hermosillo in northern Mexico.