AUTOS

Ford Won’t Rule Out Buying Vacant GM Plant: Ford Motor Co. faces a shortage of factory space in the next five years and hasn’t ruled out buying one of the plants being jettisoned in General Motors’ downsizing, Ford President Philip Benton said. “If we got to the point where we needed a plant, and we were convinced we did, we would have nothing against that,” he said. Before Ford would add capacity, however, it would try to get more out of existing plants by adding work crews and increasing the speed of production lines, Benton said. The popularity of Ford’s Explorer has prompted plans for a second production site for the sport utility vehicle.