Category: Auto News

Ford is increasing production of several models to keep up with high demand. At some factories, this also means adding more workers.

The Ford Mustang Mach-E sees the biggest production increase in this announcement. Ford is tweaking the plant so that it can nearly double the hourly production of the EV. With these changes, the automaker expects to build 210,000 units by the end of the year.

Ford will also build more units of the Bronco Sport and Maverick pickup. The company projects production to increase by 80,000 examples this year.

The automaker believes it can triple production of the F-150 Lightning at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center this year. This would amount to annual assembly of 150,000 examples by the end of 2023. To fund this, Ford is putting $2 billion into three plants in Michigan and adding 3,200 union jobs.

Ford moved 15,617 units of the Lightning in 2022. Through February 2023, it delivered 3,600 examples of the electric pickup. In the same period, the automaker’s sales of EVs, in general, are up 68 percent.

The company is investing $95 million to add 1,100 union jobs at the Kansas City Assembly Plant. Increased production of the Transit and E-Transit vans begins there in April. The company expects to increase assembly of these models by 38,000 units a year.

“We have had a strong start to 2023 and we are moving to fast-track quality production,” said Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford Blue. 

While a production increase isn’t happening yet, Ford is exploring ways to build more units of the F-150 at the Dearborn Truck Plant.

Beyond building more of these models, Ford has several vehicles joining the lineup this year. A new generation of the Super Duty is coming this spring. The next-gen Mustang is also on the way. The Escape has a refresh on the horizon. Plus, the North American version of the Ranger finally arrives. Production reportedly begins on July 10, according to a rumor.

Ford’s U.S. F-150 sales fell 9.9 percent in 2022 to about 654,000, including 15,617 F-150 EV trucks, as the company struggled with production and supply chain problems.

General Motors last month said it would idle the Fort Wayne, Ind., assembly plant that builds Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks for two weeks starting March 27 to maintain “optimal inventory levels with our dealerships.”

GM, Ford and Chrysler parent Stellantis dominate the U.S. large pickup market, and for the past two years have been raising prices on their trucks to record levels as supply-chain snags limited production.

The U.S. Postal Service this week said it would buy 9,250 E-Transit delivery vehicles from Ford starting later this year.

Ford began increasing production of the Mustang Mach-E this week and plans to nearly double its hourly production and bring its annual manufacturing run rate to a targeted 210,000 units by the end of 2023.

If the plan moves forward, construction could start in the second or third quarter of this year, with a build duration of roughly two years.

“We wish to start quickly. It’s all dependent on the state and local governments,” he said. “But we do not have a final obligation from either side yet.”

Thelen, who worked at Bosch for more than 20 years before joining Gotion, would serve as the plant manager. He recently moved from Oakland County to Mecosta County.

The plant would ultimately be overseen by parent company Gotion High-Tech Co. Ltd, whose C-suite and board members are based mostly in China.

Thelen said he is in charge of hiring managing directors at the plant, which he hopes to complete by the end of the year. He said the goal is to have primarily American workers, with an emphasis on local recruiting, but some key positions will require multilingual speakers to coordinate with sites in China, Germany and India.

He said it is not known whether workers at the factory would be represented by a union.

Most of the product from the factory will be supplied to Gotion plants that make final batteries, and the rest would be supplied externally, Thelen said. The company’s battery plants are in China, but it recently built its first foreign plant in Germany.

Thelen did not detail the company’s overall U.S. investment plans or say if Michigan could be in play for future investments.

“We are looking to be an international player, bringing the expertise that’s already been defined in the China market to the rest of the markets,” he said. “A lot of wonderful work has gone into many patents, not just for product but also process. We plan to bring that expertise and high-quality workmanship to the United States.”

Ford halted assembly of its in-demand F-150 Lightning in early February over a battery issue. Now, the Dearborn-based automaker says the EV pickup will resume production at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center on March 13. However, built Lightnings currently being held will remain in Ford’s care for the foreseeable future, awaiting updates.

The planned March 13 relaunch allows time for battery supplier SK On to build new battery packs and have them delivered to the plant. In an email regarding Lightning production, a Ford spokesperson stated the company will “apply our learnings and work with SK On’s team to ensure we continue delivering high-quality battery packs – down to the battery cells.” It’s unclear at this time if production will ramp up slowly or go full tilt on the 13th.

Regardless of production, built Lightnings awaiting shipping will remain in limbo for an unspecified amount of time, pending updates to “parts and engineering processes.” A Ford spokesperson had nothing further to add regarding details for these parts or processes. An update on the timeframe for releasing the trucks will come later.

This all started from an incident on February 4. An F-150 Lightning awaiting a pre-delivery inspection in a holding lot caught fire while charging. The extent of damage caused is unknown, but the fire prompted Ford to immediately halt Lightning production and issue a stop-shipment on trucks awaiting delivery. Thus far, no recalls or stop-sale notices have been announced regarding trucks already at dealerships or with owners. Additionally, a specific cause for the problem hasn’t been disclosed.

The production pause comes amid a very strong start to 2023 for Ford in terms of sales. The automaker reports a year-to-date increase of 11.8 percent overall as of March 1. EV sales are up considerably, with Ford reporting a 68.1-percent year-over-year increase for the month of February. A breakdown of that percentage shows Mustang Mach-E led the way with 1,783 sales for the month, followed by Lightning with 1,336 sales. The E-Transit accounted for 404 sales.

Earlier this week, Stellantis placed its factory in Belvidere, Illinois, on “idle” in what industry analysts believe is a clear sign the plant will likely be shut down soon. However, the United Auto Workers union was quick to release a statement saying such a decision “will not stand.”

The Belvidere production site currently has around 1,350 employees and has been assembling the Jeep Cherokee for years. It seems that the automaker’s major transition from combustion engines towards electrified and electric vehicles could force it to close the plant, though. With no new vehicle to be produced there – the last Cherokee rolled off the assembly lines on Tuesday this week – Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said the company is “looking for solutions” but there might not be any.

According to Tavares, electric vehicles are approximately 40 percent more expensive to produce than equivalent combustion-powered models and the company doesn’t want to pass that increase to customers for obvious reasons. Stellantis also can’t sell EVs at a loss and it is currently looking for ways to optimize the processes and absorb the added costs.

The UAW has a completely different approach to the situation, though. It says the “award-winning plant” has been producing vehicles for Chrysler, FCA, and Stellantis since 1965, delivering “quality and productivity for the corporation for generations.” More importantly, in an official statement, the organization says “Stellantis’ ill-advised decision will have negative repercussions throughout the region and supplier network” and “will disrupt lives, uproot families, and leave communities struggling to find economic drivers.”

The UAW seems to be especially unhappy by the fact that Stellantis refuses to invest in the plant in times when Carlos Tavares receives a $24.8 million compensation package for 2022. The UAW says it “will continue to demand that Stellantis put a product in the Belvidere Assembly Plant.” The Associated Press, in turn, predicts “national contract talks” could bring “a painful strike” this summer.

The Highland version of the Model 3 is expected to go into production in Shanghai in September, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

With Highland, Tesla is aiming to cut production costs and boost the appeal of an electric sedan that first went on sale in 2017, people involved in the project have said. There will also be changes to the exterior and powertrain performance with a focus on production efficiency, they said.

Tesla has separately asked suppliers for quotes for a revamped version of the Project Juniper version of the Model Y for exterior and interior components that would go into production next year, two of the people said.

The projected start of production is October 2024, according to one of the people.

It was not immediately clear how sweeping the revamp would be or what specific changes or improvements Tesla was looking to deliver with the new Model Y.

At the investor day event scheduled to be held at its Texas plant in Texas on Wednesday, Tesla has said it will share details about its next-generation vehicle platforms, which Musk has said would produce a vehicle about half the cost of Tesla’s current underpinings.

Tesla also said it will discuss long-term expansion plans, capital allocation and other subjects.

The EV maker has faced increasing competitive pressure in China, its second largest market behind the U.S., even after it cut prices.

Analysts have said that is in part because it has been seen as lagging competitors in introducing new models, improved navigation or luxe interior touches that car shoppers in the world’s largest EV market are seeking.

A revamp of the Model Y, first delivered to customers in 2020, would mean production and supply changes for a car now in production in all of Tesla’s major hubs: the U.S., China and Germany.

In contrast to legacy automakers, which have tended to make incremental model-year changes to cars before introducing an all-new version, Tesla has pressed the pace of change in its EVs.

Tesla has made frequent changes to its electric vehicles through software updates and sometimes through hardware changes to add features, improve performance or reduce production costs, analysts have said.

In one example, Tesla announced on Wednesday it had made changes in the suspension system on the Model Y made in China since January to make the ride smoother, an update Tesla fans applauded on social media.

Tesla’s plant near Berlin hit a production record equivalent to annual output of more than 200,000 Model Ys earlier this week, the company said. That was three weeks ahead of an internal production target reviewed by Reuters.

BERLIN — Volkswagen faced a barrage of criticism from campaigners after the head of its Chinese business said he saw no sign of forced labor during a visit to the automaker’s Xinjiang plant.

Activists and an international group of lawmakers said verifying labor standards in the region was impossible.

Rights groups have documented human rights abuses in Xinjiang since the 2000s, including mass forced labor in detention camps which the U.N. said could constitute crimes against humanity.

China has denied any abuses in Xinjiang.

VW‘s China chief Ralf Brandstätter spent 1-1/2 days between Feb. 16 and Feb. 17 touring the German group’s facility in the region, which is part of a joint venture with China’s SAIC, along with VW’s compliance and external relations chiefs in China.

Brandstätter said he saw no signs of forced labor and that workers’ comments matched the reports VW had received from SAIC about the plant.

“I can talk to people and draw my conclusions. I can try and verify the facts, and that is what I did. I did not find any contradictions,” he said, adding it was his first visit but not his last.

But Luke de Pulford of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group of legislators from thirty democratic countries including Britain, Germany, and the U.S., said human rights organizations felt labor standards could not be verified in the region because members of the Uyghur minority could not speak freely without fearing for their safety.

Campaigners at the World Uyghur Congress in Germany and researchers from Sheffield Hallam University, who authored a report on the auto industry supply chain’s links to Xinjiang, said the visit to the region and conversations with workers were likely planned and coordinated with authorities.

Brandstätter said he spoke at length to seven workers individually – including Han Chinese, Uyghurs and Kazakhs – some through a translator of VW’s choice and some in English, and held shorter discussions with other workers on his tour, which he said occurred without government supervision.

In a statement, a VW works council spokesperson said the automaker must make clear what value the plant has for the business and take an active stand against human rights violations in China.

The plant, which previously assembled the Santana, has seen 65 percent staff cuts since the pandemic and only conducts final quality checks and installation of certain features before handing over vehicles to dealers for sale in the region.

Planned output for this year is 10,000, a fraction of the 50,000 targeted when it first opened.