Ford to Idle Four Factories as Slowing Sales Bloat Inventory
- Plants building F-150 pickup, Escape SUV to close temporarily
- Automaker says this year’s earnings guidance will not change
A worker assembles a Ford Motor Co. Super Duty series pickup truck at the company's truck manufacturing plant in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015. Ford said its new four-year contract with the United Auto Workers will increase its U.S. labor costs by less than 1.5 percent annually by letting the company hire more low-cost workers and move production to factories in other countries.
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/BloombergFord Motor Co. is temporarily halting one of two plants that builds the top-selling F-150 pickup as it idles four factories this month amid slowing U.S. auto sales.
This week, Ford is shutting its Louisville, Kentucky, factory building the Escape and Lincoln MKC sport utility vehicles, as well as two plants in Mexico that make the Fusion sedan and Fiesta subcompact, according to an e-mailed statement. Next week, the second-largest U.S. automaker said, it will close the F-150 factory near Kansas City for seven days. And starting Oct. 31, the Louisville plant will be idled for another week, Ford said.