Ford Motor Co Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields said on Wednesday that all of the company's small-car production would be leaving U.S. plants and heading to lower-cost Mexico, drawing another rebuke from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

'We will have migrated all of our small-car production to Mexico and out of the United States,' over the next two to three years, Fields told Wall Street analysts at an investor conference hosted by the automaker.

Trump, campaigning in Flint, Michigan, on Wednesday, called Ford's decision 'horrible'. He has criticized Ford's Mexican investments for more than a year and vowed to pressure the automaker to reverse course if elected.

'We shouldn't allow it to happen,' Trump said.

Fields has previously responded to Trump's criticism by saying that as a global company Ford must compete by making solid business decisions.

Ford is building a new $1.6billion assembly plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. It will make small cars there starting in 2018.

The facility is expected to create 2,800 Mexican jobs, according to US News & World Report.

In April 2016, Trump said the move by Ford to build a manufacturing plant in Mexico 'is an absolute disgrace' and shows the need to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

He said at the time in an emailed statement: 'This transaction is an absolute disgrace. Our dishonest politicians and the special interests that control them are laughing in the face of all American citizens.'

Trump had also said that deals like the one Michigan-based Ford made to build a plant in Mexico 'will continue until we can renegotiate NAFTA to create a fair deal for American workers'.

During contract talks in 2015, Ford confirmed that it would move Focus and C-Max production out of its Wayne, Michigan, plant in 2018. The United Auto Workers Union said at the time that Ford planned to build the next Focus in Mexico.

A source briefed on the matter said the shift of production to Mexico was expected to take place next year before the start of the 2018 model year.

In April, Ford reiterated that it was planning to build two new vehicles at the Wayne plant beginning in 2018. Analysts have said they expect Ford to build a new Bronco SUV and Ranger pickup there.

Fields said that Ford planned to shift a majority of its small car production around the world to low-cost countries by 2019, which could affect Ford's Western European car production.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV said in April that it would realign North American plants to emphasize truck and Jeep production over car output. The changes are expected to be completed by early 2018.

Both automakers are making the moves because U.S. consumers have turned away from traditional sedans and hatchbacks to SUVs and pickup trucks.

The United Auto Workers has said the number of auto assembly jobs would not decline because workers would be busy making SUVs and pickup trucks.

However, UAW President Dennis Williams has said there was a risk that if gasoline prices rose again above $4 per gallon as in mid-2008, consumers might once again favor smaller cars.