(Reuters) – Ford Motor Co will stop selling the Transit Connect van in the United States by the end of next year and has scrapped plans to build the vehicle’s next model in Mexico, Automotive News reported on Tuesday.
U.S. sales of the Transit Connect small van have been falling for a while and Ford said last year it could face up to $1.3 billion in penalties in a long-running dispute over import duties paid on the vehicles.
Sales were down 15% through July in the United States, after falling about 25% last year.
The automaker will stop importing the van for the U.S. market by the end of next year, the report said, citing people with knowledge of the decision.
Ford declined to comment on the report.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker last month reported better-than-expected net income for the second quarter and reaffirmed its annual profit outlook, but said management is “actively looking” at how to offset surging costs.
The company on Monday said it would cut a total of 3,000 salaried and contract jobs, mostly in North America and India, as it races to develop software-driven electric vehicles.
(Reporting by Priyamvada C in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
