Photo: Ford
In the type of press release that makes you yawn after the first two paragraphs, the Ford Motor Company let this Easter Egg slip - the 2015 Ford Galaxy and 2015 Ford Vignale Mondeo are going to be assembled at the Blue Oval’s Valencia plant.
Since 1976, the Ford Valencia Body and Assembly plant built over 11 million vehicles, exported over 14 million engines and shipped cars or automotive subassemblies in over 75 countries around the globe. With a maximum daily production capacity of approximately 2,000 vehicles, Valencia is FoMoCo’s main production powerhouse on the Old Continent.
All nice and neat ’til this moment, but here’s the deal we’re more interested in: Ford announced that it will invest $2.6 billion in the Spanish facility in order to increase production by 40 percent by the end of 2015. Why so? Well, the plant currently assembles the Ford Mondeo (5-door, 4-door, wagon, Hybrid included), Kuga SUV, Transit Connect and Tourneo Connect.
As Ford highlights in the release attached below, the 2015 S-Max MPV, 2015 Galaxy seven-seater people carrier and 2015 Vignale Mondeo will also be assembled by the men and women of Ford’s Valencia plant “later this year.” What do these three nameplates have in common except for the blue and oval-shaped badge up front? They’re all underpinned by the Ford CD4 platform, that is.
Tony Ades, the man responsible for operations management at Valencia, declared that the “Mondeo, S-MAX and Galaxy will grow the number of parts we manage from 7,000 to 18,000, requiring some fresh and innovative solutions... Strong relationships with unions and local government have been essential to developing a flexible facility that can respond quickly and efficiently to changes in demand for our vehicles, with a highly trained and motivated workforce able to operate across our assembly lines.”
Whereas the Galaxy will be pretty much a bigger S-Max with the same powertrain options, Intelligent All-Wheel Drive included, it’s mandatory to highlight something about the posh Vignale Mondeo. Boiled down to its essentials, the Vignale treatment comprises of better materials, fit & finish, production techniques and a very ritzy customer experience. Regarding the latter, Valencia will add what Ford calls the Vignale Center, a department dedicated to ensuring exacting levels of quality and fulfilling customer expectations.
All nice and neat ’til this moment, but here’s the deal we’re more interested in: Ford announced that it will invest $2.6 billion in the Spanish facility in order to increase production by 40 percent by the end of 2015. Why so? Well, the plant currently assembles the Ford Mondeo (5-door, 4-door, wagon, Hybrid included), Kuga SUV, Transit Connect and Tourneo Connect.
As Ford highlights in the release attached below, the 2015 S-Max MPV, 2015 Galaxy seven-seater people carrier and 2015 Vignale Mondeo will also be assembled by the men and women of Ford’s Valencia plant “later this year.” What do these three nameplates have in common except for the blue and oval-shaped badge up front? They’re all underpinned by the Ford CD4 platform, that is.
Tony Ades, the man responsible for operations management at Valencia, declared that the “Mondeo, S-MAX and Galaxy will grow the number of parts we manage from 7,000 to 18,000, requiring some fresh and innovative solutions... Strong relationships with unions and local government have been essential to developing a flexible facility that can respond quickly and efficiently to changes in demand for our vehicles, with a highly trained and motivated workforce able to operate across our assembly lines.”
Whereas the Galaxy will be pretty much a bigger S-Max with the same powertrain options, Intelligent All-Wheel Drive included, it’s mandatory to highlight something about the posh Vignale Mondeo. Boiled down to its essentials, the Vignale treatment comprises of better materials, fit & finish, production techniques and a very ritzy customer experience. Regarding the latter, Valencia will add what Ford calls the Vignale Center, a department dedicated to ensuring exacting levels of quality and fulfilling customer expectations.
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