AUTO INDUSTRY Ford plans to build sedan in Mexican plant

ATLANTA (AP) -- Reports that Ford Motor Co. will start building its Futura line in Mexico and Canada have some people worried about plans for a new assembly plant in Georgia.
Ford told workers in its Hapeville plant it would delay a new 2,500-employee assembly plant in Georgia that would have built the Futura, a midsize sedan scheduled for initial production in 2005, said Mitchell Smith, shop chairman of United Auto Workers Local 882 in Atlanta.
A new assembly plant could still come to Meriwether or Morgan counties eventually, Smith said.
Ford, the world's second-largest automaker, told workers in June it would continue production of its Taurus and Mercury Sable sedans at the Hapeville plant until at least 2006, Smith said.
Ford has not announced where it will build the Futura or whether it will increase production in Georgia, spokesman Ed Lewis said.
The Detroit News, citing union officials and industry analysts, reported Monday that Ford would make the Futura at a factory in Hermosillo, Mexico, beginning in 2005. In 2006, Ford is scheduled to begin production of sport wagons at a plant in Oakville, Ontario.