• Detroit Free Press, MSNBC, Friday, July 23, 2010 10:01 AM

After touring Ford's revamped -- to the tune of $500 million -- Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne this week, Brent Snavely reports that the all-new, fuel-efficient Ford Focus that is rolling off the line there is indicative of the reinvention taking place at the automaker. The plant formerly manufactured SUVs.

Workers are assembling about a half-dozen cars per day that will help Ford smooth out the production process and ensure the quality of the new car. One big break with recent times is that the cars are being assembled in the U.S. at all.

"In the U.S., we were known as a Mustang, SUV and truck company," Ford president and CEO Alan Mulally tells him. "Because of our agreements with the UAW and our cost structure, we couldn't build cars in the U.S. profitably." But that has changed.

Mulally says the anticipated volume from global platforms like the Focus, as well as new deals with the UAW, have lowered the cost of car-building in the U.S. Coupled with good performance reviews, that's a message that's likely to resonate with domestic car buyers.

MSNBC's Paul A. Eisenstein, meanwhile, reports that the 2010 APEAL (Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout) study by J.D. Power and Associates, which looks at what the industry calls "Things Gone Right," indicates that "U.S. motorists are taking a closer look at domestic iron -- and that they're starting to like what they see."

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