Ford Adds New Shift at US Plants

Thanks to increasing demand for F-150 pickup and Escape utility vehicles, American manufacturer Ford today decided to add a third shift at the Dearborn Truck Plant and Kansas City Assembly Plant. The two plants will thus produce an extra of 10,000 F-150 pickups and 2,400 more Escapes and Mariners by the end of this year, Ford said in a release.

Additionally, the production boost will result in the full-time employment for 2,800 people who until now have worked on a two weeks on, one week off schedule.

“Even with ‘Cash for Clunkers’ behind us, we expect that demand for our fuel-efficient, high quality new vehicles will remain strong,” said Ken Czubay, Ford vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service. “We had a solid July sales month, and we are headed toward an even stronger August. We’re being as creative as we can in pushing the system to meet the demand for our products.”

In terms of sales, the aforementioned models are fairly impressive, with the F-Series posted its best US monthly sales of 2009 in July with 36,327 delivered units. The Escape and Escape Hybrid established a new record as well, selling 20,241 units last month, its third-highest monthly sales performance since its introduction in 2000.

“Customers are taking notice of Ford’s fresh new lineup, and they recognize our best-in-class quality, fuel efficiency and smart technology,” said Mark Fields, Ford’s president of The Americas. “In fact, both internal and external studies show a positive trend in the percentage of consumers with favorable opinions about Ford and our vehicles. When customers decide to pick up a Ford, Lincoln or Mercury for their driveways, we want to be ready for them.”