RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Ford has yet to find buyers for its closed plants in Brazil. The American automaker has closed three plants in the country, but the company says there are interested buyers.
In a press conference before part of the national press, Ford vice president Rogelio Golfarb said in a press conference. He revealed, “We don’t have any certainty yet that we will move forward, although we talk to interested parties.
With plants in Taubaté-SP (engines), Camaçari-BA (cars and engines), and Horizonte-CE (SUVs), Ford has an infrastructure that has been closed since January 11, 2021, except the plant in Ceará.
This plant used to belong to Troller and produced until September 2021, when the steps taken by the Ceará government in the negotiations to sell the company to Brazilian interested parties had no effect.
When Ford decided to close the brand, potential buyers pulled out of the deal, and the plant was closed, with all employees laid off.
Only the local complex is for sale, as are the much larger Bahia facilities and the former Willys Overland do Brasil plant in the Paraíba Valley.
Great Wall’s decision in favor of Mercedes-Benz, a contract has been signed to acquire the Iracemápolis-SP plant, means that a potential buyer is out of the picture.
For huge plants like Camaçari and Taubaté, the former with a capacity of 300,000 cars per year, only a major global corporation would risk buying.
One of the potential buyers would be Mazda, but the coveted Japanese brand has already indicated that it does not trust the Brazilian market.
India’s Tata Motors is another company that could come up with big numbers, even if the formula doesn’t have the same impact it once did.
National companies such as CAOA have already made their local investments, and we can only guess at interested parties from other industries.
In ABC Paulista, for example, the Ford factory is being converted into a freight logistics terminal.