import

[cwood434]

I was really happy to see ford was going to sell a smaller van then the Econoline.

But I have one major problem with it.

IT IS A IMPORT!

I will not buy a auto that is not AMERICAN MADE.

This thing is made in Turkey.

Come on for and get with the program.I own an American company and will only support American workers.

[kawpattie]

I was really happy to see ford was going to sell a smaller van then the Econoline.

But I have one major problem with it.

IT IS A IMPORT!

I will not buy a auto that is not AMERICAN MADE.

This thing is made in Turkey.

Come on for and get with the program.I own an American company and will only support American workers.

I believe that your comments are a little shortsighted. Yes, the T/C is made in Turkey(also soon to made in Romania), but from my understanding, that is only the start. The vehicle has to be modified for the American market, once it hits our shores. There will be a lot of jobs created to perform those tasks. It sounds to me like they come here pretty much "bare bones" and then they start from there. It's my understanding that the side sliding doors are all the same when they are shipped here and the side sliding door "glass" has to be installed here.

[isellford]

All of the Transit Connects are built as wagons as there is a pretty stiff inport tariff on cargo vans. Once they arrive , they are sent to a modification center that employs Americans who take the seats out of the vans that are going to be cargo versions. They also put solid panels in the doors that are not getting windows [all are built with windows in all the doors]. Then any of the vans that are getting an up-fit for racks and bulkheads, etc gfo off to another up-fit location [owned and operated by an American company] for their final upfit. They are then shipped to the dealer. Ford is operation now under a One Ford umbrella where they will bring the best products in each market segment to the US. Also, Ford makes a world class Focus in Europe in 5 different configurations which will run the wheels off our Focus. So instead of importing it, Ford is re-tooling the Wayne MI plant to build it here and keep Ford UAW workers working. Without the help of Uncle Sam, we won't be Government Motors, but we will be selling the best in class vehicles across our lineup. I've been doing this for 28 years now and I am excited about our future. And i put my money where my mouth is, I ordered a Transit COnnect for myself to use as a mobile sales office.

[isellford]

Ford has announced that they will start building the Transit Connect in the USA in 2010 in either MI or KY.

[Dunno]

Ford has announced that they will start building the Transit Connect in the USA in 2010 in either MI or KY.

Has there been any updates on this? I've been looking around online but I can only find very old news articles that predate the Transit Connect's North American debut.

[REC]

I was really happy to see ford was going to sell a smaller van then the Econoline.

But I have one major problem with it.

IT IS A IMPORT!

I will not buy a auto that is not AMERICAN MADE.

This thing is made in Turkey.

Come on for and get with the program.I own an American company and will only support American workers.

While I can understand your sentiment, I think you may be a little off in your statement. American Made .... or American Assembled? While I was looking into a vehicle, I noted that most every vehicle I looked at had the content sticker on one of the windows.... and sadly, all had some content from countries OTHER than America, many of them being more than 50%. Oh, well.... my Transit is still a Ford product, and I'm good with that.

Just my $.02

By the way, I understand that the engine and trans are from countries other than Turkey.

Roland C.

Happily Transiting

Edited February 13, 2010 by REC

[PetrosA]

There's a difference between the TC being made in the EU and other products that are imported. They don't make the TC here yet, so it's not stealing American jobs and they are gearing up for production here. Compare this to so many products that USED to be made in the US but which are now made abroad. Those products hurt our economy much more. We also expect to sell cars and trucks abroad and we expect other countries to allow us the import of those vehicles. There has to be balance in that trade and the TC is part of it.

What really gets me are the high dollar products (that are high dollar based on Made in USA reputations) that export assembly or production to low wage countries, re-import and still sell at high dollar prices. I jump through hoops to avoid buying those products, even if it means buying another foreign brand.

[RandyBear]

There's a difference between the TC being made in the EU and other products that are imported. They don't make the TC here yet, so it's not stealing American jobs and they are gearing up for production here. Compare this to so many products that USED to be made in the US but which are now made abroad. Those products hurt our economy much more. We also expect to sell cars and trucks abroad and we expect other countries to allow us the import of those vehicles. There has to be balance in that trade and the TC is part of it.

What really gets me are the high dollar products (that are high dollar based on Made in USA reputations) that export assembly or production to low wage countries, re-import and still sell at high dollar prices. I jump through hoops to avoid buying those products, even if it means buying another foreign brand.

I found the first post very offensive, and ignorant. A former co-worker told about how when she worked for a plumbers/pipe-fitters union, anyone that belonged to the union didn't dare drive an import (or at least park it there,) or risk their car being vandalized. How do you differentiate between a foreign car built in a foreign country, and one that is built in the US like my Toyota 4Runner? This also completely ignores all the American cars that are rebadged imports like the old ford trucks (I think,) that were rebadged Mazda trucks, Dodge Omnis, and the Chevrolet Aveo made by Daewoo in Korea.

I really have to agree with this post, and I registered today to reply to it. We as American consumers can make a far greater impact by going out of our way to not buy goods that are produced in low wage companies, especially by American companies that export American jobs overseas. A good example is how Walmart started out pushing that it sold only "Made in America" but then as they got much bigger reversed this policy and imports almost exclusively products that are made in low wage countries, though they were pretty slow to stop advertising the opposite.

I have a friend in Wisconsin that is proud to work for Kohler, a company that has refused to export any of it's assembly work overseas. I doubt there are very many such major manufacturers in the US that can say that. I believe all American cars made today use some parts that are made or assembled overseas. Though I think in some cases it's because certain things are just made better in Japan, like electronics, because they invented some of the technology and perfected it.

A little off topic, but I am appalled at how many great vehicles are made by companies like Ford, like the Ford Transit, but till scares about the rising cost of fuel forced them to start marketing the smaller and more fuel-efficient vehicles here, we were stuck with vehicles like the Ford E-Series vans and even bigger cargo vans/trucks that get rediculous gas mileage. I guess because it was always the American/cowboy way to drive big oversized trucks with no consideration for fuel efficiency or the environment. I've talked to some delivery drivers that work for companies like Cardinal Distribution, who can't make a living doing it any more, because they have to pay for fuel out of their own pockets. And then small contractors can barely afford to stay in business because the standard contractor van, a big Ford E-series is just too expensive on gas. Sometimes you have to wonder if it's that there wasn't a market for the more fuel efficient vehicles, or if the oil companies and the car companies are in bed together watching eachother's interests. Whenever bills were introduced to force the automakers to start raising gas efficiency, the companies complained that the laws would do too much to limit consumers choices. I don't know how they can justify that attitude today because I know it's not the American consumers they and the politicians are protecting.

I have never thought about it till now, but I wonder how much has the rest of the world changed because of every other nation passing laws creating tighter restrictions on fuel mileage and pollution, and even on noise pollution. Truth be told, gas prices have been artificially kept low in the US, and it hasn't kept kept up with inflation till just recently. I wonder how much of this has been because of tax breaks/incentives given to all the large American corporations, not just the oil companies.

I don't like getting political but I knew exactly what was going to happen in the last elections and what the results were going to be. That the American population let the tea party crazies convince them that the current administration has done nothing (and how much could they do in 2 years,) and create such a huge backlash that they would give the republicans a clear majority, and in turn, the republicans would and are pushing the corporate american agendas, taking away funding from social programs, pushing new laws to reverse clean air measures including allowing coal plants to have less stringent pollution controls, and allowing more coal plants to come online. Actually the republicans are going much further that I ever thought they would. The whole crazy mess in Wisconsin with the public unions is a great example. The other thing the governor did that really shocked me was when he rejected $1.2 billion in federal funding for high speed trains, which would have created a lot of jobs, calling it a waste of taxpayer money. Heaven forbid we have a useable public train system that will also help the environment, and reduce highway congestion rather than what we have now. A tax sinkhole of a train system that no one uses.

I need to add that I don't believe republicans are evil. They are just set in their way, and the damage they are now causing is because they have too much of a majority and are taking full advantage of it. Democracy does not work when there's no balance of power because time and time again whenever a politician from one party comes up with a bill like health reform or restrictions/bans on assault rifles, too many members of the government votes the party line.

Edited May 23, 2011 by RandyBear

[hollowwood]

I was really happy to see ford was going to sell a smaller van then the Econoline.

But I have one major problem with it.

IT IS A IMPORT!

I will not buy a auto that is not AMERICAN MADE.

This thing is made in Turkey.

Come on for and get with the program.I own an American company and will only support American workers.

This is an old post and is still getting comments. I will add to that. ABC did a series on "Made In America" which found little products in the average home that were made here. I wonder how the average American Company would do if they looked at what was made in the US that that company owns. This is December 2011 and plans are under way to build a plant in Kansas to build Transits to replace the Econoline Line. Most of the Ford Pickup comes from Canada. Toyota, for years, had the highest content of US made parts of any company in the US. The Brand is no longer the indicator as to where it is made. We are in a "World Market" now. Think about this before you assume anything.

[Mikeeshaq]

The TC engine is made in Spain while the TC transmission is made in the USA