There is a tentative deal between Ford and the UAW, but not many details have been released other than there will be bonuses and promises of job preservation/creation. Some of those jobs will be at the assembly plant at Flat Rock Michigan. Flat Rock currently assembles the Ford Mustang and the (slow-selling) Mazda6. Earlier this year, Mazda announced plans to pull out of the joint venture Flat Rock plant. Without new product, this would leave the already underutilized facility operating at well less than half capacity.
The tentative contract would call for moving some production of the hot-selling Ford Fusion to Flat Rock. Currently the Fusion is assembled in Hermosillo, Mexico, and because it is not assembled by the UAW or the CAW, it is not on the UAW's approved vehicle list. The next generation Fusion is set to go on sale early next year as an early 2013 model. Since the Mazda6 is built on a version of the same platform as the Fusion, we can hope that UAW-built Fusions start rolling off the assembly lines either concurrently with or shortly-after their Mexican-built counterparts.
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