Ford to close three plants in Brazil
DETROIT, January 13, 2021
US automaker Ford Motor Co has announced that it will close its three plants in Brazil this year and take pretax charges of about $4.1 billion.
Production will cease immediately at Ford’s plants in Camaçari and Taubaté, with some parts production continuing for a few months to support inventories for aftermarket sales. The Troller plant in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, will continue to operate until the fourth quarter, said a Reuters report.
The closure comes as the Covid-19 pandemic amplified the company’s under use of its manufacturing capacity, the report said.
Ford officials said the action was part of the $11 billion global restructuring previously forecast by the company, of which it had accounted for $4.2 billion through the third quarter of 2020. Ford shares closed up more than 3%.
The plant closures affect about 5,000 employees, mostly in Brazil, Ford spokesman T.R. Reid said.
