Trucks Ahoy
Ford plans to sharply ramp up pickup production next year in truck-crazed market
The F-150 is the country's best-selling vehicle, and Ford is gunning production of gas and hybrid versions.
Ford
Ford said it will increase F-150 and F-Series Super Duty production next year to kill two birds with one stone.
The Detroit-area automaker said the more than 50,000-unit increase is intended to both make up for production lags resulting from the recent Novelis supplier plant fire in New York while also meeting demand.
Pickups made up four of the six top-selling vehicles in the U.S. this year as of July, according to Cox Automotive, which ranked Ford’s F-Series first.
To shift the truck production into higher gear, Ford said it will add “up to” 900 jobs at its Dearborn, Mich., truck plant for F-150 production and 100 at its Kentucky truck plant for the Super Duty manufacturing. It said it will also transfer some existing employees to truck work.
Ford plans to make more than 45,000 additional gas and hybrid F-150s next year and 5,000 Super Duty units, increasing line speed to help accomplish the latter.
Meanwhile, the automaker will keep F-150 Lightning assembly on hold to prioritize gas and hybrid versions in the series, which it pointed out are “more profitable for Ford and use less aluminum.”
The metal mention refers to increases to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports instituted by the Trump administration this year.
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