Column

Starkman: Michigan State Police Disses UAW with Testing of Ford’s Mexican-made Electric Mustang

January 15, 2025, 6:39 PM

The writer, a Los Angeles freelancer and former Detroit News business reporter, writes a  blog, Starkman Approved

By Eric Starkman

So much for supporting and promoting Michigan-made automotive manufacturing.

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The Detroit Free Press breathlessly reports that Michigan State Police “is testing the all-electric 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E police vehicle in a special unit that will evaluate the SUV and then publish the results of its performance to police fleet managers and purchasing agents nationwide — potentially having a huge impact on Ford Motor Co.'s future police fleet sales.”

The Freep left out one teeny weeny detail that should matter greatly to all Michiganders, particularly Gov. Gretchen Whitmer: Ford, a company that falsely boasts on its website that it’s “All In On America,” proudly builds the electric version of its iconically American Mustang in Mexico, where it also assembles Maverick pickups and Bronco Sports.

As well, Ford in 2022 opened an expansive $260 million engineering campus on the outskirts of Mexico City, the largest in Latin America. Mexico-based engineers increasingly are involved with vehicles Ford builds in the U.S. When Ford opened its Mexico engineering campus, it noted that nine Mexican engineers worked on instrument panels for the 2022 Ford Expedition and 2022 electric Ford F-150. 

“Ford Mexico’s Engineering Center has evolved so much in recent years that we have become a fundamental arm for the company’s global projects,” said Marcos Pérez, director Product Development at Ford of Mexico. “For many years, we thought that Mexican talent was mainly related to manufacturing, but today, we have shown that we are equally or more valuable (emphasis mine) than the design engineers in countries like Germany, Australia or the United States.”

Making Mexico Great

Ford is helping make Mexico great in automotive engineering and manufacturing, although GM CEO Mary Barra has shown even more loyalty to that country. Just months after her good friend Joe Biden was sworn in as president, Barra announced plans to invest $1 billion to transition one of her Mexican factories to build electric vehicles.


Terry Dittes (Linkedin photo) 

United Auto Workers former Vice President Terry Dittes, then head of the union's GM Department, said of the move: "At a time when General Motors is asking for a significant investment by the U.S. government in subsidizing electric vehicles, this is a slap in the face for not only UAW members and their families but also for U.S. taxpayers and the American workforce.”

GM builds the electric versions of its Chevy Equinox and Blazer vehicles in Mexico, as well as some of the company’s most profitable gas guzzling trucks and SUVs. Barra also recently began building the Cadillac Optiq in Mexico.

Although GM’s and Ford’s Mexican workers are unionized, they are paid poverty wages to support the $28 million that Barra was paid in 2023 and the $27 million Ford CEO Jim Farley received.

Michigan State Police driving Mexican-made vehicles is an insult to all Michiganders, and a mighty diss to the state’s union workers and their supporters. It’s yet another example of Whitmer’s cluelessness or insincerity and possibly both.

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Gov. Whitmer

Speaking at the UAW’s 2023 special bargaining convention in Detroit, Whitmer crowed:“ Together we put the world on notice that Michigan was, is and always will be the beating heart of the auto industry,” Whitmer said, noting that the UAW is the center of much of this work.

“I’m here because the UAW has been a phenomenal partner to me, and I will continue so long as I’m in office to be a phenomenal partner to you, too.”

It was a mutual slobbering session, with UAW president Shawn Fain hailing Whitmer as “our friend, our ally and our sister.”

Union Solidarity?

Sorry Fain, your sis doesn’t appear to have your back. Whitmer appointed Michigan State Police chief director Col. James Grady, who announced the electric Mustang testing. Michigan State Police troopers and sergeants are unionized and represented by the Michigan State Police Troopers Association.

So much for union solidarity!

One must question the wisdom of a police department relying on any vehicles, let alone electrified ones, manufactured by Ford Motor Co. The company has been an industry leader for safety recalls several years running, and electric vehicles have some serious limitations for police work, particularly during a Michigan winter.

It might do Grady some good to read this paper published by Zia Muhammad, a scholar at North Dakota State University on the subject.

The Freep reports that other police agencies using the Ford Mach-E include Ann Arbor; Oakdale, California, and Westchester County, New York.

Even the vehicles GM and Ford manufacture in the U.S. are questionably American.

Cars.com every year publishes its rankings of the most American-made vehicles. The rankings aren’t based solely on where a vehicle is manufactured, but incorporates other critical considerations such as parts content, engine and transmission origin, and U.S. manufacturing workforce. More than 400 vehicles from the 2024 model-year were analyzed to qualify for the top 100 list.

Honda and its luxury Acura brand captured nine of the top 20 spots, Toyota and its luxury Lexis division captured four, and Tesla had three. VW’s electric ID.4 was the third most American-made vehicle, while Amsterdam-based Stellantis’ Jeep and Dodge divisions each captured individual spots.

The number of GM and Ford vehicles that made the top 20? Zero.

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President-elect Donald Trump

Donald Trump, the MAGA man himself, doesn’t appear bothered by GM’s and Ford’s dismal rankings. Both companies are providing vehicles for Trump’s inauguration, along with $1 million from each automaker to show how much the Mexico supporting vehicle manufacturers embrace and support the MAGA agenda.

Trump vowed he would impose hefty tariffs on foreign made vehicles imported into the U.S. but given that GM’s and Ford’s stock prices haven’t been hard hit on the eve of Trump taking office, Wall Street apparently believes Trump is all talk.

Just like Whitmer.

Reach the writer at Eric@starkmanapproved.com. Confidentiality is assured.



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