Ford has canceled plans to move production of a small sport- utility vehicle from Europe to Kentucky as currency exchange rates no longer favor domestic production, according to two people familiar with the decision.
Ford had planned to shift the Kuga model next year to Louisville from Saarlouis, Germany, to take advantage of lower labor costs and the weaker dollar, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the plan is private. With the euro falling, Ford plans to continue producing the Kuga in Germany, the people said.
The reversal demonstrates the difficulty of lowering Ford’s U.S. labor costs to globally competitive levels. The automaker intended to export as many as 80,000 Kugas a year to Europe, the people said. That plan was tied in part to exchange rates and labor concessions Ford sought last year that United Auto Workers members rejected. Bloomberg News
