U.S. President Donald Trump hailed Ford's decision to cancel the plan of selling Chinese-made Focus Active in the United States. Trump suggested that Ford Motor Company could instead start manufacturing the hatchback in the country. Ford, however, had instantly shutdown Trump's idea.
The president reacted on the company's announcement in August that it will no longer be importing the Focus Active from China to the United States, saying that U.S. tariff on cars assembled in Beijing would make it expensive for the company. The automaker will not achieve its target profit if they sell the small car in the United States.
In a Twitter post on Sept. 9, Trump said Ford's decision to kill its plan of importing the Ford Active to the United States means the car can now be built in the country because that way, Ford need not pay any more tariffs.
Mike Levine, Ford North America Product Communications Manager, responded promptly to the president's tweet. He clarified that it would not be profitable for Ford Motor to assemble the Focus Active inside the United States. The communications manager explained that Ford can only expect U.S. annual sales volume of fewer than 50,000 units.
Given the competitive segment of the Ford hatchback, assembling the car on the U.S. soil will not generate profit for the company, Levine explained. Nevertheless, he said Ford has always employed more people on an hourly rate and build more vehicles than any other automaker in the United States.
Kristin Dziczek of the Center for Automotive Research told the Associated Press that the automaker can actually assemble the Focus Active in its many facilities across the world. For now, for the company to survive the US-China trade war, Ford saw it strategically wise to not sell the small car in the United States. If the company decides otherwise, Ford has other cheaper options than building the cars in the United States while the tariffs on U.S. car imports are high.
Ford's decision to kill plans of selling Focus Active was announced in August following Trump's threat of imposing levies on another tranche of Chinese goods worth $200 billion.
The automaker's decision was unfortunate given that Focus Active would have been a design solely intended for the U.S. consumers, Reuters reported in August. During the announcement, Ford North America Chief Kumar Galhotra clarified that the decision will not cost jobs and will not affect the cars' sales in the United States.
Galhotra had, in fact, explained that the move was strategic for the company to deploy its resources wisely. If they push through with selling it in the United States, the company will be compelled to sell it at significantly higher prices which could no longer be afforded by the target consumers.
On the other hand, Focus Active will still be sold in China and in Europe, Galhotra said.
