Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump is promising protectionist policies that he says will strengthen domestic manufacturing and return jobs to the United States.
Ahead of his inauguration, Trump has battled car companies by threatening higher taxes on foreign-made cars.
Earlier this month, the country's second largest automaker, Ford cancelled construction of a planned plant in Mexico.
So will the next President help the most famous car-making city in the U.S.?
Nick Harper reports from Detroit.
IN: "Detroit is not..."
OUT: SOC
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TAKE VO
Detroit is not just a motor city, it's the Motor City - its position secured by more than a century of manufacturing.
TAKE VO
But hard times and years of steady decline hit the city, capped by the auto industry bailout in 2008 and bankruptcy in 2013. Now, there are hopes a new president is coming to the rescue.
TAKE VO
Donald Trump has been critical of the car industry, proposing a 35% tax on vehicles made overseas but sold in the U.S. A potential game-changer for Detroit.
TAKE VO
The biggest name to change its plans is American automaker Ford. It scrapped plans to build a $1.6 billion dollar assembly plant in Mexico amid repeated criticism from the incoming U.S. President. And that, at least, is good news for American jobs.
TAKE VO
Ford will instead make more cars at its factory just outside Detroit, safeguarding about 35-hundred jobs. But Ford, along with the other two U.S. car companies based in Michigan- General Motors and Fiat Chrysler - will still make cars in Mexico. And they're not the only ones hedging their bets. Here's the senior vice president of sales and marketing at Nissan, Christian Meunier
Christian Meunier - SOT "It's very early to tell. Obviously, we have always had good relationships with the governments, and it will be the same with the new government. And we'll decide when some more clarity will be announced in the next few weeks. But for now, we stay the course, and it's business as usual."
TAKE VO
Not surprising considering it's still unclear if Trump's threatened import tariff will actually become policy. Because while car makers can change…. they're looking for some certainty first. As Stephanie Brinley from IHS Autonmotive explains.
Stephanie Brinley - SOT "It's not always an easy adaptation, sometimes it's pretty painful, sometimes it's beneficial, sometimes it's not. But the industry's been around for a hundred years, we've been globalizing for 50. We'll keep working towards whatever the demands are. What really is needed is to know what those situations are going to be."
TAKE VO
While the president may lead manufacturers back to U.S. soil, modernization has reduced the needed number of workers. Something Joel Stone, the Detroit Historical Society senior curator has seen over the years.
Joel Stone - SOT "We have been removing jobs from that process. The fewer people it takes to make a car, the more profit you make on that automobile. So even with the wonderful rhetoric that came out of the campaign, I'm not sure that everyone realizes that so many of those jobs aren't coming back - not because they went to Mexico, but because they don't exist."
TAKE VO
In the meantime, people here are watching and waiting… hopeful that Donald Trump can make the Motor City great again.
SOC
ENDS
Ahead of his inauguration, Trump has battled car companies by threatening higher taxes on foreign-made cars.
Earlier this month, the country's second largest automaker, Ford cancelled construction of a planned plant in Mexico.
So will the next President help the most famous car-making city in the U.S.?
Nick Harper reports from Detroit.
IN: "Detroit is not..."
OUT: SOC
DUR: 2:53
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NIGERIA: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0118trump-cars-nh-von.mp3
RNZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0118trump-cars-nh-rnz.mp3
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TAKE PKG
TAKE VO
Detroit is not just a motor city, it's the Motor City - its position secured by more than a century of manufacturing.
TAKE VO
But hard times and years of steady decline hit the city, capped by the auto industry bailout in 2008 and bankruptcy in 2013. Now, there are hopes a new president is coming to the rescue.
TAKE VO
Donald Trump has been critical of the car industry, proposing a 35% tax on vehicles made overseas but sold in the U.S. A potential game-changer for Detroit.
TAKE VO
The biggest name to change its plans is American automaker Ford. It scrapped plans to build a $1.6 billion dollar assembly plant in Mexico amid repeated criticism from the incoming U.S. President. And that, at least, is good news for American jobs.
TAKE VO
Ford will instead make more cars at its factory just outside Detroit, safeguarding about 35-hundred jobs. But Ford, along with the other two U.S. car companies based in Michigan- General Motors and Fiat Chrysler - will still make cars in Mexico. And they're not the only ones hedging their bets. Here's the senior vice president of sales and marketing at Nissan, Christian Meunier
Christian Meunier - SOT "It's very early to tell. Obviously, we have always had good relationships with the governments, and it will be the same with the new government. And we'll decide when some more clarity will be announced in the next few weeks. But for now, we stay the course, and it's business as usual."
TAKE VO
Not surprising considering it's still unclear if Trump's threatened import tariff will actually become policy. Because while car makers can change…. they're looking for some certainty first. As Stephanie Brinley from IHS Autonmotive explains.
Stephanie Brinley - SOT "It's not always an easy adaptation, sometimes it's pretty painful, sometimes it's beneficial, sometimes it's not. But the industry's been around for a hundred years, we've been globalizing for 50. We'll keep working towards whatever the demands are. What really is needed is to know what those situations are going to be."
TAKE VO
While the president may lead manufacturers back to U.S. soil, modernization has reduced the needed number of workers. Something Joel Stone, the Detroit Historical Society senior curator has seen over the years.
Joel Stone - SOT "We have been removing jobs from that process. The fewer people it takes to make a car, the more profit you make on that automobile. So even with the wonderful rhetoric that came out of the campaign, I'm not sure that everyone realizes that so many of those jobs aren't coming back - not because they went to Mexico, but because they don't exist."
TAKE VO
In the meantime, people here are watching and waiting… hopeful that Donald Trump can make the Motor City great again.
SOC
ENDS