UPDATE: FORD CANCELS PLANS FOR $1.6 BILLION PLANT IN MEXICO 

Ford CEO Mark Fields said at a press conference held this morning the company has canceled its plans to build a new $1.6 billion plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, but confirmed that the next-generation of its Focus compact will be produced at its Hermosillo, Mexico factory.

Fields said the decision to cancel the plant in Mexico was based in part on changing market conditions and the pro-business climate the automaker expects under President-elect Trump.

“We are today announcing that we are investing $700 million  to transform Flat Rock into a new manufacturing and  innovation center,” Ford CEO Mark Fields said at a press conference held this morning.

The company plans to hire 700 new workers to build self-driving and electric vehicles along with the Mustang and Lincoln Continental already produced at the Downriver site. Fields said Ford will produce a new, fully electric SUV with a 300 mile range that it will launch in 2020 and a fully-autonomous vehicle at the Flat Rock plant.

“Make no mistake about it, Ford is a global automaker, but our home is right here in the United States,” Fields said.

Fields also provided some information for Ford’s multi-billion dollar investment in seven electrified vehicles announced today. They include:

• An all-new fully electric small SUV, coming by 2020, engineered to deliver an estimated range of at least 300 miles, to be built at the Flat Rock plant and sold in North America, Europe and Asia
• A high-volume autonomous vehicle designed for commercial ride hailing or ride sharing, starting in North America. The hybrid vehicle will debut in 2021 and will be built at the Flat Rock plant
• A hybrid version of the best-selling F-150 pickup available by 2020 and sold in North America and the Middle East. The F-150 Hybrid, built at Ford’s Dearborn Truck Plant, will offer powerful towing and payload capacity and operate as a mobile generator
• A hybrid version of the iconic Mustang that will deliver V8 power and even more low-end torque. The Mustang Hybrid, built at the Flat Rock Plant, debuts in 2020 and will be available in the North America to start
• A Transit Custom plug-in hybrid available in 2019 in Europe engineered to help reduce operating costs in even the most congested streets
• Two new, pursuit-rated hybrid police vehicles. One of the two new hybrid police vehicles will be built in Chicago, and both will be upfitted with their police gear at Ford’s dedicated police vehicle modification center in Chicago