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Detroit Free Press Readers Rip Into Ford Over Production Move

Just last week, we shared some rather distressing news that production of the Ford Focus and C-Max models would cease at the automaker’s Michigan Assembly Plant in 2018, moving to a yet unknown venue. While Ford cannot officially confirm it, UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles has stated that he anticipates production of both models to be moved to Mexico.

It’s perhaps good news to Ford that more Americans don’t necessarily vote with their money; otherwise, they might expect to lose plenty of profit over the rumor alone.

The inclination that Ford Motor Company might be moving Focus and C-Max production not just out of Michigan, but out of the country, has plenty of Detroit Free Press readers upset. After reporting the news, the Free Press received a veritable onslaught of discontented comments on their website.

We won’t re-post all of the published Detroit Free Press reader comments here, but we will give you some of the highlights, on-point or no:

Want me to buy American? Build American!
-Laurie Van Den Beldt

A lot more foreign nameplates out there now are more American than “American” cars.
-Brian Kelly

Thanks, Bill Clinton, NAFTA is working out great!
-Bob Quay

Thanks to the UAW, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the second-highest corporate tax rates in the world, we lose good manufacturing jobs in this country every day. It’s been a slow motion train wreck since the 1950s.
-Gregory Stelz

(Note: We’re not entirely sure how much blame should be attributed to the UAW and the EPA, especially considering the good that they do: the former fighting for fair conditions for auto workers; and the latter, you know, trying to keep us all alive despite industry’s best efforts.

Also, the 1950s were racist. -Ed.)

We’ve always wondered to what extent – if any – automakers attempted to figure in market backlash before making penny-pinching maneuvers like shifting production abroad. If these angered statements from Detroit Free Press readers are any indication, Ford Motor Company hadn’t really thought about it at all.

Aaron Birch is an automotive enthusiast and writer/filmmaker from Detroit, MI. As a rule, he only buys cars older than himself.

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