The automotive company Ford announced that it will close its operations in Brazil but reaffirmed that it will supply that market with units imported from Argentina and Uruguay. In addition, representatives of the company assured that "the plans in the country remain unchanged and the investment of US $ 580 million is ratified" to manufacture the new Ranger in the country.
South America has been a persistent money loser for most of the last 16 years. The company reported pretax losses of $386 million there in the first three quarters of last year. Ford said it will continue to sell vehicles in Brazil and elsewhere in South America, including the Ranger midsized pickup built at a plant in Argentina and Transit commercial vans imported from the US.