DETROIT -- President-elect Donald Trump's vow to impose tariffs on imports from Mexico has changed the focus of the North American International Auto Show from what new vehicles are on display, to where they are made.
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Ford said Monday that it would produce a new pickup and sport utility vehicle in a factory that is losing car production to Mexico. Fiat Chrysler announced Sunday that it would invest $1 billion and create 2,000 new jobs in the United States.
And Mary Barra, the chief executive of General Motors, which has been criticized by Trump for its production plans in Mexico, said the company was still not altering those plans.
More than anything, said Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive of Fiat Chrysler, the industry needed to know what was going to happen with the North American Free Trade Agreement, which now allows for a free flow of trade between the United States and Mexico.
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"We need a clear indication of how the U.S. administration plans to deal with NAFTA," Marchionne said at the auto show. "We're just waiting for clarity."
Leaders of the world's top automakers were in Detroit on Sunday and Monday to give reporters a peek at their newest cars and trucks. The show opens to the public Saturday.
Trump has made the auto industry a frequent target, attacking automakers for selling Mexican-made vehicles in the United States.
After the announcements from Fiat Chrysler and Ford, though, Trump reversed course. He thanked the companies for commitments to add jobs and products at plants in Michigan and Ohio, and took credit for the decisions.
"It's finally happening," Trump wrote on Twitter in reference to the job growth, adding, "Thank you Ford and Fiat C!"
Marchionne said Monday that the decision to retool factories in Ohio and Michigan to build new Jeep sport utility vehicles, including a pickup truck, "was in the works and has been in the works for a long period of time."
But he also told reporters at the Detroit auto show that uncertainty over Trump's trade and tax policies could lead auto makers to delay investments in Mexico.
"The reality is the Mexican automotive industry has now for a number of years been tooled-up to try and deal with the U.S. market. If the U.S. market were not to be there, the reasons for its existence are on the line," Marchionne said.
Marchionne suggested Monday that Trump might support the idea of GM merging with his company.
Marchionne said he could still do one more big deal in his career, alluding to efforts to merge Fiat Chrysler with another automaker. He previously has said that GM would be the best partner, and on Monday, he ventured that Trump might appreciate such a deal. He later added that he's not currently pursuing a merger and is focused on reaching the carmaker's 2018 financial targets.
"From what I understand, I believe that Trump should like a GM-Chrysler tie-up," Marchionne told reporters in Italian at the Detroit auto show. He said he has had no direct contact with Trump and declined to comment on policy matters before the Jan. 20 inauguration.
Where the auto industry will head from this point has been a running discussion in the first two days of the sprawling Detroit auto show, usually known far more for talk about engines than economic policy.
Most major automakers have sizable manufacturing operations in Mexico that export to the United States and elsewhere.
Factories in Mexico are considered an integral part of global business strategies. But Trump has zeroed in on how investment in Mexico may be hurting the chances for U.S. job growth.
Ford, for example, canceled plans recently to build a factory in Mexico that had been repeatedly criticized by Trump.
The president-elect also scolded General Motors for importing small Chevrolet Cruze hatchbacks from Mexico to augment its production of similar vehicles in the United States. But Barra said it was too late to turn back on that decision.
"This is a long-lead business with high capital investments, decisions that were made two, three and four years ago," Barra said at an auto show event promoting a new General Motors SUV.
However, Barra said General Motors is eager to work with the incoming Trump administration on issues related to manufacturing and job growth.
She said she had spoken with Trump last week after his Twitter post about the Mexican-made Cruze and expects that dialogue to continue.
"There's a lot of work to do," Barra said. "When you really look at some of the things the president-elect has said, we have much more in common than we have different."
In an interview Monday at the auto show, GM's product development chief Mark Reuss said it's "great thing" that Trump is trying to build jobs and strengthen the economy: "We all want the United States to succeed and we all want to work with him on that."
But Reuss said decisions on where to build vehicles were made as many as five years ago. He said the company has invested billions in the U.S. since the 2008 economic downturn and has thousands of employees here. "I'm proud of that record. We'll just keep it going."
Herbert Deiss, a member of Volkswagen's management board, said Volkswagen won't change its production plans in response to Trump. "Mexico is one of our biggest markets," he said. But he also emphasized that Volkswagen has made significant investments in the U.S. that should help allay Trump's concerns, including the opening of a plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., in 2011. "We do a lot of investment here, even vehicle development, so I think we will be fine," he said.
Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford said he has talked to Trump multiple times about trade, tax policy and currency manipulation. "I found him to be very informed and respectful of our positions." But Bill Ford bristled when asked if Trump is affecting Ford's production plans. In addition to canceling plans to build a plant in Mexico, Ford recently decided not to move production of the Lincoln MKC SUV from Kentucky to Mexico. "We made that decision and we'll always make the right business decisions for Ford," he said.
Information for this article was contributed by Bill Vlasic and Neal E. Boudette of The New York Times, Tommaso Ebhardt and Jamie Butters of Bloomberg News and by Dee-Ann Durbin, Tom Krisher, Jeff Karoub and Corey Williams of The Associated Press.
Business on 01/10/2017