NEW YORK – Ford Motor Co. is likely to close five plants that employ about 7,500 workers, or about 6 percent of the company's North American workforce, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
Citing two people familiar with Ford's product plans, the paper said the company was likely to shut assembly plants in St. Louis, Atlanta and St. Paul, Minn., as well as an engine-parts plant in Windsor, Ontario, and a truck-assembly plant in Cuautitlan, Mexico.
The plans to shut the plants were still being formulated and were subject to change, the Journal added.
Ford, facing a deepening financial crisis, has promised to unveil a radical restructuring in North America early next year.
The company lost $284 million in the third quarter. On Thursday it said sales fell for a third straight month, down 18 percent, and cut its production forecasts for the fourth and first quarters.
In November, the company announced plans to eliminate 4,000 salaried jobs, or 10 percent of its North American white-collar work force, as part of the larger restructuring plan.