Ford Triples Electrified Vehicle Production
By Michelle Krebs June 9, 2011
Ford Motor Co. will triple North American production capacity for electrified vehicles -- hybrids, plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles -- from 35,000 vehicles this year to 100,000 a year in 2013, Jim Farley, Ford group vice president of Marketing, Sales and Service announced at its Sterling Heights, Mich., transmission plant Thursday. By year-end 2012 Ford will sell five electric vehicles in addition to its various current and upcoming hybrids and plug-in hybrids. Among those, Ford will begin producing in the Detroit area and selling the Ford C-Max "space wagon" next year. The C-Max (above) will be offered only as a five-passenger model and as either a gas-electric hybrid followed by a plug-in hybrid, both with lithium-ion batteries. No gasoline-only model and no a seven-passenger version will be offered as they are in Europe. “We are giving our customers in electrification more choice,” Farley said.
He also noted Ford and the U.S. industry are witnessing a sea change in the desire of consumers in all market segments for higher fuel economy. “Boy, we are seeing a change in customers,” remarked Farley, adding it has increased just since the start of this year. “We have been seeing a growing appetite for fuel efficiency and green even in just the last quarter…While customers want different things in different segments, they all want fuel economy.”
As evidence, Farley pointed to the fact that May was Ford’s biggest month for small cars in decades. Sales of the Ford Fiesta were so strong that the automaker is down to a 20-day supply of inventory. The revamped Ford Focus, just on sale in the past couple months, is off to a fast start. The Ford Fusion and Ford Escape, available with hybrid versions, have had record months particularly due to a rich mix of four-cylinder versions. About 20 percent of Lincoln MKZ models are being sold as hybrids. Four of 10 models that offer Ford’s fuel-efficient EcoBoost technology are being purchased with the option. As for Ford’s volume leader, the F-150 pickup, about 55 percent are being purchased with V6 engines, an engine Ford didn’t offer a year ago.
Center For Excellence
The C-Max hybrid and C-Max Energi will be built alongside the 2012 Ford Focus and upcoming Focus Electric at the automaker’s Michigan Assembly plant in Wayne, Mich., just outside of Detroit. Ford claims it will be the first plant in the world to produce gas-powered vehicles, full-electric vehicles, hybrids and plug-in hybrids under one roof. The C-Max has been on sale in Europe, with more than 100,000 sold since its late 20010 launch. With sales twice the rate of the previous generation model, Ford is exploring ways to produce more than originally planned at its Valencia, Spain, plant.
In the U.S., Ford is adding 220 green technology jobs to Michigan, which is Ford’s Global Center of Excellence for Electrification. That includes 170 jobs at Ford’s Rawsonville and Van Dyke Transmission plants in the Detroit area, , 50 new engineers based in Dearborn, Mich., to work on design and development of key components for electrified vehicles. The Rawsonville plant in nearby Ypsilanti, Mich., will assemble the lithium-ion battery packs for the C-Max hybrid as well as a larger lithium-ion battery pack for the C-Max Energi. Both battery packs were designed in –house by Ford engineers and currently battery production is done by a supplier in Mexico. The Van Dyke Transmission plant in Detroit suburb of Sterling Heights, Mich., where Thursday’s press conference was held, will produce the electric drive transaxles, currently outsourced to a supplier in Japan for current model hybrids.
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