Ford to Exit Japan, Indonesia

Ford Motor Co. says in an e-mailed statement it will abandon sales operations in Japan and Indonesia by the end of 2016 because of poor growth prospects in both countries.

Ford sold a combined 11,100 vehicles in the two markets last year. The company describes Japan, where imports account for less than 6% of the domestic market, as the “most closed, developed auto economy in the world.”

The company has no local manufacturing base in Japan. It complains that the tentative Trans Pacific Partnership trade pact as written won’t improve its prospects there, leaving little hope of significantly increasing last year’s 5,000-unit sales total in Japan.

In Indonesia, where Ford accounts for less than 1% of local sales, the company says its prospects are bleak without a local manufacturing base and a new array of market-specific model lineup. Ford says it sees “no reasonable path” to generate sustained profits in the country.