Fields, while declining to confirm those vehicles, argued that the workers there will end up better off than they are today, periodically subjected to weeklong layoffs because demand for the vehicles they produce is falling.
“At the end of the day, we have to make sure that as a business we are providing compelling products for customers at the right value that provide a good return for the company, so we can then reinvest in the products, in the people, in the facilities,” Fields said. “With these exciting products that we’re bringing in, it’s actually a net win for the UAW.”
It’s a major reversal of course for Ford, which converted Michigan Assembly from hulking SUVs to small cars after gasoline prices soared heading into the recession. Fields’ predecessor, Alan Mulally, told USA Today in 2008 that the dramatic shift away from big gas guzzlers “is going to be permanent.”