General Motors will be the only one of the Detroit 3 making compact or midsize cars in the U.S. by 2019, according to the companies' new UAW agreements.
Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles are essentially giving up on trying to build mass-market cars profitably in this country, instead shifting most production of those nameplates to Mexico so they can dedicate U.S. plants to higher-margin pickups and SUVs. The UAW is accepting that trade-off to get rid of the two-tier wage scale that was vital to the business case for U.S.-made sedans and because it expects a net increase in jobs.
The result: In a few years it will be far easier to find a Japanese or Korean car produced domestically than one designed in Detroit that's not imported. Foreign brands are expected to keep their U.S. plants churning out high-volume cars, such as the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord.
But, increasingly, Ford and FCA see the U.S. as a place to build light trucks.
"You can afford to pay a little more when you're making trucks," said Dave Cole, chairman emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research, "but the structural change in the industry has been so huge that I was kind of surprised by that -- trucks here and cars in Mexico."
The Ford and GM agreements had not been ratified by UAW members as of press time.