U.S. automaker Ford Motor Company announced Monday that it would pause construction of a 3.5 billion-dollar plant in Michigan involving a Chinese electric vehicle battery company.
They didn’t give a specific reason.
Ford announced in a ceremony earlier this year that it would invest $3.5 billion to build the plant in Marshall, Michigan. As part of the announcement, the U.S. automaker said it had reached an agreement with Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), a Ningde, China-based firm, to manufacture battery cells at the plant using services provided by the Chinese company, Fox Business reported.
Republicans and national security experts have blasted the company for teaming up with a Chinese firm with ties to the Chinese Communist Party on such a major investment.
The plan had been considered for Virginia, though it never reached a final discussion stage. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin opposed the plant over China’s potential influence in the plan and argued that “CATL and the Chinese Communist Party would have full operational control over the technology.”
“We applaud that the construction of this reckless deal has been halted,” former U.S. Ambassadors Peter Hoekstra and Joseph Cella, co-founders of the Michigan-China Economic and Security Review Group, said Monday. “From the outset, Ford Motor Company, the State of Michigan, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and all other parties to it have been irresponsible in advancing this deal.”
“There was zero strict scrutiny or due diligence; concerns of our intelligence and national security agencies were ignored and mocked,” they continued. “The halting of the construction is the natural result of the consent of the governed being ruptured by government and business elites. With citizen activists, we are not relenting or letting our guard down. We will keep fighting against the Ford-CATL and Gotion deals until they are no more.”
Unsurprisingly, Gretchen Whitmer was thrilled about the deal. She cared about looking good to constituents with an auto plant in Michigan.
While CATL is not state-owned per se, Chinese investors are tied to the CCP. And everyone knows that all Chinese companies are indebted to the Chinese Communist Party. There is no such thing as freedom in a Maoist country.
In addition, Zeng Yuqun, who founded CATL in 2012 and remains its top executive, was identified last year as a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee. According to a U.S. government report published in 2018, the CPPCC is a “critical coordinating body” that brings together representatives of Chinese interest groups and is led by the CCP’s Politburo Standing Committee, Fox Business reports.
Of course, the Chinese Communists are pushing EVs. It would make us entirely dependent on them for our transportation. They have control over the minerals and the slave labor.
I do not have the links right now but in the last few years I have read about many strange or bad decisions the people at Ford made.
—They stopped making cars except for the Mustang a few years ago…why ??? Ford cars have always been VERY popular…and not everyone wants to drive a pick up truck….that would be like McDonald stopping making hamburgers and only making french fries…it is so dumb it boggles the mind !
— They called a truck that looks like a soccer mom Hyunday van… ok a SUV if you prefer, an electric SUV ;
the E-Mustang which is an insult to millions of people who love the Mustang one the most popular car on this planet… Why use that name for a truck ???
— They invested so much in EVs that they first said, maybe a year ago, that they lost 3 Billion …and then a few weeks ago admitted they actually lost over 4 Billion Dollars investing in EVs…
who the hell is making decisions at Ford ?
Do they get drunk and they throw a dart , and wherever it lands that is what they do ?
Even when I was only 8 years old I would have made better decisions than the people at the head of Ford.
What bizarre thing will Ford do next year ?
come up with a car that has square wheels ?
A car that turns into a dishwasher?
a car called Maytag ? or the E-Maytag, it washes your dishes as you pick up the kids at the soccer game ?
I still see Ford focus everyday, Ford Fusions, I see Ford cars everywhere, their cars are very very popular , there are still probably millions of them on the road today…but they stopped making them…who does that ???
What is wrong with the people at Ford ???
Update ; Minutes ago Google was making me a liar, it was saying they still make the Focus…a bit more googling and…well in China they still do but not in the USA and not in Canada,
they stopped making them and selling them in the USA and Canada 4 years ago.
and they stopped making and selling Fusions in 2020
Very very stupid decisions Ford made.
I have no idea why they called a electric truck the new Mustang but here is one “hypothesis”;
They could not fit the 7 feet long, almost 3 feet wide and 8 inch thick battery into the floor of the actual Mustang which is a low car…
but they wanted an Electric Mustang…
…so they made a truck that looks like a Hyunday Kona, in which the 8 inch thick battery would fit in the floor and called it a Mustang.
but it is not a Mustang, it is a SUV that looks very much like a Hyunday Kona.
Those gigantic batteries do not fit into low cars such as Mustangs or Corvettes
Will GM be as stupid and make a soccer mom SUV and call it the E corvette?
I would not be surprised
in a world where they say that men can have babies, anything is possible…