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2 2.18 to 2.23.2019 S ão Paulo – Ford announced on Tuesday 19th. that it will cease operations in São Bernardo do Campo, SP, before yearend. In its press release, it announced the closure of production of trucks and the hatch model of Fiesta, which came out of the production line in the district of Taboão. The products will be available in the dealerships until the inventories are finished off. According to Ford, the decision is part of a “global restructuring” the company is going through so as to make viable the cost cutting and focus on new products, such as SUVs and pick-ups. The public announcement followed a global standard. Preliminary calculations elaborated by the company demonstrate that discontinuing production in SBC will result in a US$ 460 million out-of-pocket as “compensation for employees, dealers, suppliers and amortization of fixed assets”. This is part of the full US$ 11 billion that Ford projects as this year’s expenses with the redesign of their global operations. As of this moment, it is not clear how the company will go about the shutting down of operations. Members of the local autoworkers union in SBC were called in for a meeting at Ford’s headquarters this Tuesday, when they were informed about the shutting down directly from Lyle Watters, president for South America, and Rogelio Goldfarb, vice president, who offered no specifics. Later on, Wagner Santana, president of the local Union, declared on a video posted on social media that the union was anticipating the news ever since last January, when in a meeting organized to discuss the future in the region, Ford, as opposed to the other manufacturers operating on the ABCD region, such as General Motors, Volkswagen and Mercedes, did not announce new investments on the local operation. This did not go unnoticed by the audience. Some of the main names on Ford’s supply chain, such as Flamma (cabins) and Cummins (engines) were also caught off-guard by the official announcement received in the last hours of Tuesday. Cummins issued a Ford to shut down its São Bernardo plant Bruno de Oliveira | bruno@autodata.com.br Company