Ford Motors Details Expansive Growth Plans for 2014

Ford Motor Company has mapped out  expansive growth plans for 2014, including the launch of 23 new vehicles, the opening of three more manufacturing facilities and adding more than 5,000 new jobs in the United States.

Highlights include the following:

• Ford in 2014 will launch the most vehicles globally in a single year than in more than a century
• To support its aggressive growth strategy, Ford is set to open two manufacturing facilities in Asia Pacific and one in South America.
• Ford will add more than 5,000 new U.S. jobs – including 3,300 salaried positions – in 2014 on top of more than 14,000 new hires in the past two years to support its growth momentum.
• Two new fuel-efficient EcoBoost® engines will be added to its lineup, boosting total offerings to six.
• Fuel efficiency technologies, such as Auto Start-Stop, will spread to the company’s highest-volume products, covering 70 percent of Ford’s North America volume.

“Next year, we are embarking on our most ambitious global launch year ever to meet customer demand for our products around the world,” said Raj Nair, group vice president, Ford global product development. “We are investing even more through our One Ford plan to serve more customers, in more segments – and deliver profitable growth.”

The growth in 2014 will come on the heels of a strong year for Ford in 2013. Ford is on pace in 2013 to produce 6 million vehicles, or about 16 vehicles per minute around the world. This momentum is led by Ford Focus, the world’s best-selling single nameplate, which is on track to reach 1.1 million sales this year.

Ford’s gains also are coming from the small utility segment. Globally, utilities are expected to grow at almost twice the rate of the overall industry during the next five years.

In the United States, Ford is the best-selling brand of utility for the third straight year, outpacing its nearest competitor through November by 31 percent. Utility sales are led by Ford Escape, which delivered its best annual sales record this year through November – with still another month left. Escape has sold more than 271,000 units, surpassing in 2013 its record sales year of 261,008 vehicles.

Ford’s U.S. market share is growing at a faster rate than any of its competitors, rising five-tenths of a percentage point through November. The midsize sedan segment is contributing to these gains, with Ford Fusion selling at record levels and sales up 22 percent this year.Sales also remain strong for Ford F-Series, which is on track to be the best-selling pickup for 37 years. F-Series sales are up 20 percent through November; Ford expects to sell more than 730,000 F-Series trucks this year.

2014: An Unprecedented Product Year in North America
Ford Motor Company expects its product momentum to intensify in 2014 with 16 new vehicle launches in North America, including Lincoln. These new vehicles include Ford Mustang, Ford Transit Connect, Ford Transit and Lincoln MKC. In all, Ford expects to have about three times the number of product launches next year in North America than in 2013.

Production of the all-new Transit will begin in second-quarter 2014 at Ford’s newly retooled Kansas City Assembly Plant. Ford is investing $1.1 billion to retool and expand the facility.

In addition, the Kansas City assembly plant will add more than 2,000 jobs – more than 1,000 of which are new hires – to support high demand for Ford F-150 plus production of the all-new Transit family of commercial vehicles starting next summer.

Ford Plant
In Asia Pacific Africa, Ford sold its 1 millionth vehicle in October. In the third quarter, Ford’s market share in its fastest-growing region increased six-tenths of a percentage point, to 3.7 percent.

In China, the company’s market share grew to a record 4.3 percent in the third quarter, up eight-tenths of a percentage point, reflecting very strong sales of Kuga, EcoSport and Focus.“Our strategy in Asia Pacific is to serve our customers with even more One Ford products, and to increase our capacity to provide these great products with manufacturing hubs in China, India and ASEAN,” said Dave Schoch, group vice president and president, Ford Asia Pacific.

“With more products, plants and people, in 2014 we will take another significant step in the implementation of our Asia Pacific growth plan.”To support the onslaught of new products, Ford will open three new manufacturing facilities – two of them in Asia Pacific and one in South America.Next year, Ford is on track to open its Changan Ford Assembly Plant No. 3 and Changan Transmission Plant in Chongqing, China, as well as Camaçari Engine Plant in Brazil. The new Chongqing Assembly Plant will increase the company’s production capacity in China by 300,000 units next year.

To fuel this growth, Ford plans to hire more than 6,000 employees in Asia next year, the vast majority of them hourly employees. Similarly, in the United States, Ford expects to create more than 5,000 new jobs, including 3,300 salaried positions, the largest hiring initiative since 2000. In the past two years, the company has created more than 14,000 jobs in North America alone.

More than 80 percent of the new salaried jobs will be technical professionals who work in product development, manufacturing, quality and IT.

More Fuel Efficiency and Driver-Assist Technologies
In 2014, Ford also will continue its major global shift to provide customers with more fuel efficiency technologies.

Ford’s EcoBoost® engine family, which delivers fuel efficiency and performance, adds two new offerings next year – a new 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine and one soon to be named. Ford’s award-winning 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine offered in Ford Fiesta goes on sale in North America for the first time. With a fuel economy rating of 45 mpg highway, Fiesta with the 1.0-liter EcoBoost is the most fuel-efficient non-hybrid vehicle available in America.

Fuel efficiency technologies, such as Auto Start-Stop, also will be offered on more Ford vehicles in North America. The feature is currently available on Ford Fusion. It will spread to Ford’s highest-volume products, covering 70 percent of the company’s North America volume and reflecting progress toward Ford’s Blueprint for Sustainability to increase fuel efficiency.

Similarly, Ford’s success in hybrids – selling more than 80,000 through November – is expected to continue. In 2014, Ford plans to add more than 400 new positions to its powertrain engineering team, including approximately 100 new hybrid and electrified vehicle engineers.

Ford also is expanding its technology offerings, including new driver-assist features such as perpendicular park.

Tags: Ford Focus, Ford Motors

Category: Featured, General Update, Vehicles