Busy 2014 for Ford with 23 Car Launches - Analyst Blog
December 13 2013 - 1:00PM
Zacks
Ford Motor Co. (F) has massive expansion plans
for next year as it intends to hire 11,000 workers in the U.S. and
Asia to support the expected launch of 23 new models during the
year. The automaker will also open three new manufacturing
facilities, two in Asia Pacific and one in South America.
Ford intends to hire 5,000 workers in the U.S. and 6,000 workers in
Asia. The company announced that among these workers in the U.S.,
about 80% people will be engaged in white-collar jobs related to
information technology, manufacturing, quality and product
development.
The Asian workers will mainly be employed in two new plants -
Changan Ford Assembly Plant No. 3 and Changan Transmission Plant in
Chongqing in China. It is expected that the Chongqing Assembly
Plant will enhance production capacity of the company in China by
300,000 units next year. Ford will also open Camacari Engine Plant
in Brazil.
With 23 product launches planned in 2014, Ford will be highly
active all through the year. The automaker intends to introduce 16
vehicles in the U.S., including a Ford Mustang, Ford Transit
Connect, Ford Transit and Lincoln MKC small utility vehicle. With
this, the automaker will augment product launched by 3 times
compared to 2013. Moreover, Ford expects that its strategy of
expansion of workforce and product line will support the growth
plan for the Asia Pacific region.
Ford will be manufacturing the all-new Transit from the
second-quarter of 2014 at the newly restructured Kansas City
Assembly Plant. For the reconstruction, the automaker invested $1.1
billion in the facility. The automaker will be adding 2,000
workers, including 1,000 new workers, at the plant. These workers
will be engaged in the production of Ford F-150 together with the
production of all-new Transit family of commercial vehicles, which
will be produced in the plant from next summer.
However, Ford is concerned about the quality issues of the vehicles
launched in the last two years. The automaker said that the launch
of new Lincoln MKZ sedan was delayed due to some quality problem.
Moreover, Ford recently recalled 7,329 Lincoln MKZ hybrid vehicles
of model years 2013 and 2014. The recall was made to reprogram the
powertrain control module. The existing module is unable to meet
the U.S. regulatory requirement, which mandates that the brake
should be depressed before the car can be shifted out of
parking.
In November, Ford announced two recalls of its popular sports
utility vehicle (SUV) Escape of the model year 2013. With these two
recalls, the automaker’s total number of recalls of Escape
increased to seven since the vehicle was redesigned and marketed in
the spring of 2012. The company recalled the vehicles as the engine
cylinder head may crack due to overheating and thereby result in
leakage of oil. This may eventually lead to fire.
Ford has effectively looked over the matter and the automaker
expects that these quality issues will not raise any problems over
the vehicle launches in 2014.
Ford is one of the largest automobile producers in the world along
with General Motors Company (GM), Honda
Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC) and Toyota Motor
Corporation (TM). Currently, Ford retains a Zacks Rank #2
(Buy).
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