Ford strips its own vans

[Bruce Nunnally]

[WSJ]

BALTIMORE -- Several times a month, Transit Connect vans from a Ford Motor Co. factory in Turkey roll off a ship here shiny and new, rear side windows gleaming, back seats firmly bolted to the floor. Their first stop in America is a low-slung, brick warehouse where those same windows, never squeegeed at a gas station, and seats, never touched by human backsides, are promptly ripped out.

The fabric is shredded, the steel parts are broken down, and everything is sent off along with the glass to be recycled.

To avoid a tax on vans that Ford imports from its own factories in Turkey on arrival to the US they rip out and dispose of the windows and seats. Costs them several hundred dollars of lost parts but saves several thousand dollars in import taxes. doh.