Ford Motor to push ahead with Mexico auto parts plants

Ford Motor Co plans to push ahead with plans to build two auto parts plants in Mexico despite US president Donald Trump's pronouncements.

Ford's stock rose 0.3 per cent and closed at $12.58 per share on Friday, marking a 3.7 per cent gain so far this year.

Mexico is Arizona's top trading partner and has emerged as a hub of auto supply chain sector. The state is also a growing hub for driverless car research.

''The plants, in the central state of Guanajuato and the northern city of Chihuahua, will make engines and transmissions,'' AFP reported.

Ford had earlier dropped its plans to build a $1.6-billion small-car production plant under pressure from Trump, who has been pushing for more manufacturing in the US.

Trump had threatened a 20-per cent tax on imports and had met with the CEOs of automakers, tech firms and other businesses at the White House.

At a Boeing plant in South Carolina, yesterday, Trump promised more manufacturing jobs and tax cuts.

Ford Mexico CEO Gabriel Lopez said at a company event in Mexico City yesterday that the company was going ahead with plans to expand two of its plants, an engine plant in Chihuahua and a transmission plant in Irapuato.

The plans were announced in 2015 and ran counter to the recent announcements about automakers bringing jobs back to the US, particularly Ford, amid pressure from Trump.

Ford was in the headlines last month after it announced it had scrapped its plans to build a $1.6-billion assembly plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

However, the small car production originally planned for the discontinued San Luis Potosi plant will shift to an existing Mexican Ford assembly plant, and will not be brought to the US.