DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. had considered moving production of the Lincoln MKC to Mexico, but instead the compact premium crossover will remain at the Louisville Assembly Plant, the automaker confirmed Thursday night.
Ford spokeswoman Christin Baker said the Cuautitlan plant had been the "likely" new plant for the MKC when the automaker's deal with the UAW expires in 2019.
But now the automaker plans to build the next generation of the MKC in Louisville, Kelli Felker, Ford's global manufacturing and labor communications manager told Automotive News late Thursday.
President-elect Donald Trump, in a Thursday tweet, said his “friend” Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford called him and said the company would keep its “Lincoln plant in Kentucky -- No Mexico.”
Baker said the automaker "confirmed with the President-elect that our small Lincoln utility vehicle made at the Louisville Assembly plant will stay in Kentucky."
Ford never had plans to close the plant, as Trump suggested.
Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant builds both the Lincoln MKC and Ford Escape. In its 2015 agreement with the UAW, Ford committed $700 million in investments there over the next four years, although the deal said the current MKC “will balance out to allow capacity for Escape.”
The president-elect appeared to take some credit for the decision on Twitter.
"I worked hard with Bill Ford to keep the Lincoln plant in Kentucky. I owed it to the great State of Kentucky for their confidence in me!" Trump said.
“We continue to engage with President-elect Trump's team -- and the new Congress -- as they shape the policy agenda for 2017,” Baker said in a statement. “We have shared our commitment to continue investing in the U.S. and creating American jobs -- building on the $12 billion we have invested in our U.S. plants and the nearly 28,000 U.S. jobs Ford has created in the past five years. Ford continues to employ more American autoworkers and produce more American made vehicles than anyone.
“We are encouraged that President-elect Trump and the new Congress will pursue policies that will improve U.S. competitiveness and make it possible to keep production of this vehicle here in the United States.”
Ford did not immediately respond to a question about what role Trump played in its decision. It’s also unclear when exactly Ford made its decision to keep the MKC in Kentucky.
UAW leadership met with Ford on Friday to discuss the move and reassure members that their jobs were secure. Jimmy Settles, vice president of the UAW-Ford department, said in a joint statement with the automaker that Ford made the move “based on changing business conditions.”
He said union leadership would visit the plant in the coming days to speak with rank-and-file in person. The UAW was not aware Ford was planning to move the vehicle to Mexico until Trump’s tweet, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
The MKC represented about 9 percent of the 421,079 vehicles built at Louisville Assembly last year. Ford built 37,376 Lincoln crossovers in 2015, while it built 383,703 Escapes.
Through the first 10 months of 2016, MKC sales are up 2.4 percent to 20,702.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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