The 2011 Ford Ranger, discontinued the next year. Image via Ford

For once, Donald Trump’s public rambling and nonsense has led to a good thing: a chairman for Ford’s union confirming production of the revived Ranger and Bronco, which will move into the manufacturer’s Michigan factory when its small-car production goes to Mexico.




Ford’s United Auto Workers contract that went public in November of 2015 all but confirmed a return of the Ranger and Bronco models, together making for a $9 million investment in U.S. factories. And in September of this year, Ford finally confirmed its plan to move all small-car production to Mexico after 2018 in order to lower production costs and make room for two new vehicles in its Michigan plant—the latter part of which Trump completely ignored in his Monday night debate screed about Ford jobs being shipped out of America.

The 1995 Ford Bronco, which went out of production the next model year. Image via Ford


Ford, which said multiple times that U.S. jobs would be safe due to new models being introduced to the Michigan plant, fired back on Twitter.

All of this sounds quite gross and typically Trump-esque in its evasion of facts so far, but there’s a silver lining. He actually, unintentionally, led to a confirmation of the Ford Bronco, discontinued in 1996, and the Ranger, which came to an end after the 2012 model year.

Bill Johnson, the UAW chairman for the Wayne, Michigan plant, told the Detroit Free Press recently that Trump “needs to get his facts straight” and stop criticizing Ford for doing what droves of other manufacturers have already done. Obviously annoyed at Trump’s nonsense, Johnson, whether purposefully or on accident, told the Detroit Free Press this:

“We hate to see the products go to Mexico, but with the Ranger and the Bronco coming to Michigan Assembly that absolutely secures the future for our people a lot more than the Focus does,” Johnson said.


Thanks to cheap gas prices in recent years, Americans aren’t buying small cars like the Ford Focus right now. But they are buying trucks and SUVs in record numbers, which is why Johnson is absolutely right about those plants being better for the future of American jobs.

Ford hasn’t officially said yet that the Bronco and Ranger will be the trucks made in Michigan, but Johnson’s statement is, well, a big hint. Besides, Ford said in August of 2015 that the company was pursing alternatives to produce in Michigan and would “discuss this issue with UAW leadership as part of the upcoming negotiations.” If anyone’s going to know, it would be Johnson.


There you have it, everyone. Trump did something positive. Not sad!