"We're one of the most efficient plants Ford has. The Atlanta employees have a long history of stepping up to the task at hand," Sparks said.
Chuck Moore, director of the Detroit-area restructuring firm Conway, MacKenzie and Dunleavy, said the plants are the subject of speculation in part because of the products they make.
The Atlanta plant makes the Ford Taurus sedan, which is scheduled to be phased out next year. The St. Louis plant makes the Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer, two vehicles which have been struggling. Explorer sales were down 30 percent in the first 11 months of this year despite an extensive redesign, according to Autodata Corp.
The St. Paul plant makes the Ford Ranger pickup, which also saw sales fall nearly 25 percent between January and last month, and the Cuautitlan plant makes the F-150 and Super-Duty trucks that could be consolidated elsewhere, Moore said. Ford has four other plants that make the F-150.
GM's announcement got little reaction from Wall Street, in part because many of the changes won't take place until after GM and the UAW negotiate a new contract in 2007.
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