OTTAWA {(UPC) - Ford
Motor Company of Canada
has promised to reinstate
1,300 jobs this June and

“develop a new fuel-efficient
‘gompact car by 1983 in its

plant. at Oakville, Ont.,

‘Industry Minister Herb Gray

said Monday.

In return, the federal
government. made limited
conditional adjustments”
the ratio of the number of

cars produced for sale rela- .

tive to the number of com-
mercial vehicles, such as
buses, vans, trucks, Gray
told a news conference.

The adjustment will in-
_crease car sales, the minister
-shid. Astwell, a second shift,

Less safe

TORONTO (UPC) -
Consumer advocate Ralph

“Nader has accused Ford

Motor Co. of offering cars to
Canadian consumers less
safe than those sold in the
United States.

The company’s FMX
automatic transmissions,
redesigned for American-

“built models because of a

tendency to slip from the
park position into reverse,
were still being installed. in
Canadian-built models,
Nader charged in a letter to
Transport Minister Jean-Luc
Pepin.

“I urge you to investigate
this matter and strive to end
the double-standard of the
Ford Motof Co., which
apparently believes it can get
away with selling Canadian
motorists cars that are more
hazardous than those that
are for sale south of the
border in the United States,”
Nader wrote from
Washington, D.C.—

A Ford - Canada
spokesman however took
issue with the suggestion
Canadian motorists were
being offered cars less safe
thah those sold on the U.S.
market, pointing out the
Canadian-built cars were
sold on both sides of the

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employing — 1,300, will be . not import transit or inter-

needed this. June for con-
verting the plant to make a
fuel-efficient,
drive compact and tem-
porarily produce the existing
Ford LED.

“I attach great importance
to the conversion of Cana-
dian automotive plants,
using the. latest technology,

to the manufacture of the -
products of the future,” he —

said. “During the conver-
sion, production of Ford's
LTD will be increased.”
Under the new agreement,
the ratio for certain com-
mercial vehicles and buses
will be combined under one
requirement. This “limited
change” is based on the
understanding that Ford will

border.

“As far as we are con-
cerned, there is nothing
wrong with any .of our
transmissions,” he _ said
Wednesday. He was unable
to say whether the FMX
transmissions were being
‘used in the Canadian-built
cars but promised to provide
further details today.

Nader said the continued
use of the automatic tran-
smissions was revealed in
previously confidential
documents released
Wednesday along with
details of a settlement on the

_Matter between Ford and the

U.S. government.

‘FMX transmissions were
still being produced in
Canada by the automaker
even though the
smissions were redesigned
for 1980-model Ford cars in
the United States, Nader
said in his letter to Pepin.

In the. letter to Pepin,
Nader traced the history of
the FMX transmission
through the design changes
in 1980 models that, quoting
the automaker, “will make
transmission shift level
misplacement from reverse
and park somewhat more
difficult.”

“But what Fotd Motor Co.

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tran-

city buses against this ratio,
Gray said.

Under the previous a apree-
ment, the 'U.S.-Canada Pact
‘demanded ‘Separate “sales -
ratios for..cars, buses and
commercial vehicles.

The_ changes will “hope-
fully” imcrease Ford sales
and reduce the $2.1 billion
auto trade deficit with the

Fords being sold in

never told anyone is that it
did not make the same
improvement for 1980 cars
manufactured in Canada.”
Nader wrote. “Ford con-
tinued to make the old-style
FMX automatic tran-
smissions that so frequently
slipped from park into
reverse for Canadian

consumers.”

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United. States by $500

million, a senior department
Official said. —

Gray warned there was a
“risk” Ford could have
eventually- closed the
Oakville plant, which has

‘light vans and the

’ produced
- fuxury LTD Ford car.

“I am pleased to see this

action which brings people
to work, people which other-

wise might not be working,”

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B7 - Wednesday, January 7, 1981 - Nexth Shore News

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enough
encourage Canadian

Gray said.

Vintage Automotnalcs courtesy of
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January 8 to 17.

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