Detroit + Ford = perfect combination.

[MaxSpeed]

I love Ford's here are some of my favorites.

[Steve bennet]

Shout out to Ford for opening a new plant in India. Since people here in Detroit don't need jobs, it only makes sense to open one in India.

[DetroitHabitater]

or lets build cars here with overpriced labor for an expanding market and ship them to the other side of the globe on big boats

[Mind field]

or lets build cars here with overpriced labor for an expanding market and ship them to the other side of the globe on big boats

"like" ........

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

I hope that the point was that the U.S. labor is overpriced for the Indian market, and not the U.S. market.

[stinkytofu]

It's not like Ford is building these cars in India then sending them back to Chicago to be sold. These are being built and sold in India in the huge emerging market over there. A very valid complaint is when an American company makes builds factories overseas, only to ship the product back to the US to be sold. I don't see a problem in what Ford is doing in this case.

[stromberg2]

I would love, love, love to have that RS500!

Stromberg2

[JBMcB]

Ford imports the Transit Connect from Turkey as a passenger van, then rips the back seats out to sell them as cargo vans to get around a steep tariff on light trucks. Bizarre.

Ford is making some nice cars. The Sync stuff with Microsoft is pretty cool as well, though I've heard people complain the UI is sometimes too complicated. Their ad campaign is pretty decent, too - much improved from the abysmal Mercury effort of a few years ago [["This is a Mercury vehicle, you should buy one.")

[Lowell]

Shout out to Ford for opening a new plant in India. Since people here in Detroit don't need jobs, it only makes sense to open one in India.

If they build them there and sell them there, i.e. create a transplant, more power to them and it means money for us. If they build them there and ship them all back here, pass me a glass of that whine.

[Steve bennet]

or lets build cars here with overpriced labor for an expanding market and ship them to the other side of the globe on big boats

Overpriced labor? I don't know many average auto employees driving Bentelys.

[DetroitPlanner]

If they build them there and sell them there, i.e. create a transplant, more power to them and it means money for us. If they build them there and ship them all back here, pass me a glass of that whine.

I am pretty sure thats the case. They are building cars for the India market. You can't retrofit cars made in the USA for the market and ship them over there. This is beacuse we have much higher standards and our cars would either need to be heavily de-engineered or be priced too high to compete. Add in the cost of shipping them half-way around the world and building a plant and taking some profits is much better for our local economy.

[ThisIsForTheHeart]

I am pretty sure thats the case. They are building cars for the India market. You can't retrofit cars made in the USA for the market and ship them over there. This is beacuse we have much higher standards and our cars would either need to be heavily de-engineered or be priced too high to compete. Add in the cost of shipping them half-way around the world and building a plant and taking some profits is much better for our local economy.

That's if we ever see a dime of the money come back to the U.S. since the profits go directly to Ford Indian HQ.

[East Detroit]

Ford profits come back here. It is one global company with headquarters in the USA.

1) Many countries that US companies deal with have import quotas and high tariffs, so a company can't make money exporting from the US to them and can only do it by building there and selling what they build there to locals.

2) Many countries do not even allow our US companies to have their own plants [[Russia, China, etc) and our companies must form joint ventures with companies of foreign government choice so that they can share in the profits. So, a US company can own 51% or 49% of a facility that they build in order to work around the issues of #1 above.

Doesn't seem fair... does it?

[ThisIsForTheHeart]

Ford profits come back here. It is one global company with headquarters in the USA.

1) Many countries that US companies deal with have import quotas and high tariffs, so a company can't make money exporting from the US to them and can only do it by building there and selling what they build there to locals.

2) Many countries do not even allow our US companies to have their own plants [[Russia, China, etc) and our companies must form joint ventures with companies of foreign government choice so that they can share in the profits. So, a US company can own 51% or 49% of a facility that they build in order to work around the issues of #1 above.

Doesn't seem fair... does it?

Global company yes just like any other but the profits made in India get reinvested in India to places like this

http://www.india.ford.com/servlet/Sa...pper&site=FIPL

Ford Plant and Corporate Office
Ford India P Ltd,
S.P. Koil Post
Chengalpattu - 603204
Phone : 91 44 67403333
Fax : 91 44 27455177
Corporate Office - North
Ford India Pvt. Ltd.
3rd Floor, Building 10 C,
DLF Cyber City
DLF Phase II,
Gurgaon – 122002
Haryana
Phone: 91 0124 3873001
Fax : 91 0124 3873999

[wazootyman]

Overpriced labor? I don't know many average auto employees driving Bentelys.

What you're failing to acknowledge here is that a "good" wage in the US is much, much higher than a "good" wage in India.

My company outsources much of our software development to India. Globally, we are 300,000 strong, and employ thousands in the Metro Detroit area. The problem is, I've heard that when overhead, wages, insurance and everything else is considered, a US employee costs about 10 times as much as one in India. Yeah, I'm not happy about the outsourcing either, but you can't argue with those numbers. If we don't oursource, our competitor will, and will be able to undercut us on the bid to the OEM. Then, we don't get the business, and there's no work for the employees anywhere.

These companies are smart to invest in China, India and Brazil. They are up-and-coming markets, and they'll be left in their competitors' dust if they don't set up shop. It's wonderful to think we could export the vehicles to them, but given the aforementioned import restrictions and the higher wages here, we'd never be able to compete with a competitor on foreign soil.

It's a race to the bottom. Figure out what you can do to maintain a competitive edge before your job can be done by someone just as qualified, will to make $2/hr. Complaining won't accomplish anything.

[RaumVogel]

7 billion strong........and growing...

[DetroitHabitater]

I live in Detroit. I am a fomoco engineer and I design vehicles for North America, Europe, Brazil and China. And I get paid twice a month.