Ford Years
The Wixom assembly plant was one of Ford's largest and oldest manufacturing sites. It opened April 15, 1957, and was ultimately expanded to encompass 4.7 million square feet. Over the plant's 50 years of operation it produced 6,648,806 automobiles. The last car produced was a white chocolate Lincoln Town Car which rolled off the line at 12:55pm on May 31, 2007.
During its long history, the plant was mainly used for the manufacture of Lincolns and the Ford Thunderbird. The Lincoln Town Car and the Ford GT were also produced there. Production of the Lincoln LS ended in early April 2006 and production of the Ford GT stopped on September 21, leaving the Town Car as the plant's final product.
Wixom was the most profitable plant in the industry during the 1980s when Cadillac downsized its lineup and lost ground to Lincoln. Due to Lincoln's falling sales, Ford announced on January 23, 2006 that the Wixom plant would be idled in 2007 as part of The Way Forward. Some analysts argued that the plant might not be closed. A report in The Oakland Press stated, "The fate of the Wixom plant, however, will depend on the shape of Ford's future product plan, which seems to be currently in flux." Michigan governor, Jennifer Granholm, reportedly offered $115 million in tax cuts to keep the plant open. The plant was nonetheless idled in 2007, and by mid-June 2008, while Ford was able to find buyers for other idled plants, Wixom remained unsold.
Products:
- 1958–2002 Lincoln Continental
- 1958–2005 Ford Thunderbird
- 1980–1983 Lincoln Mark VI
- 1981–2007 Lincoln Town Car
- 1984–1992 Lincoln Mark VII
- 1993–1998 Lincoln Mark VIII
- 2000–2006 Lincoln LS
- 2005–2006 Ford GT
Read more about this topic: Wixom Assembly Plant
Famous quotes containing the words ford and/or years:
“I have always felt that the real purpose of government is to enhance the lives of people and that a leader can best do that by restraining government in most cases instead of enlarging it at every opportunity.”
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)
“What a hundred years is not enough to build, one day is more than enough to destroy.”
—Chinese proverb.