Ford Transit production boosted to meet customer demand in Europe

FORD Transit production gets a boost with the production capacity increased for Transit, Transit Custom and Tourneo Custom models at its plant in Turkey, to meet accelerating demand for their market-leading commercial vehicles. Ford Otosan – Ford Motor Company’s joint venture with Koç Holding in Turkey – is investing $52 million to expand production at the Golcuk facility in the Kocaeli province of Turkey, increasing capacity by 40,000 units to 330,000 vehicles per year – a more than 12 per cent increase. To help satisfy this growing demand, this additional capacity in Kocaeli is scheduled to go live in September 2018, and will be achieved through an increased number of robots in body construction, an extension to the paint shop, and increased line speed in the assembly operations. Ford Otosan general manager Haydar Yenigun said: “This major investment reinforces the position of the Kocaeli plant as a key manufacturing hub for commercial vehicles for Ford in Europe. “With our continuing focus on quality and efficiency, we remain ideally placed to support Ford’s commercial vehicle business as it goes from strength to strength.” Ford is Europe’s No.1 selling commercial vehicle brand, a position built on the success of the latest generation of Transit vehicles, led by the 2-tonne Transit and 1-tonne Transit Custom models. With the introduction of the latest Transit family, Ford has risen from the No.7 ranked commercial vehicle brand in Europe in 2012, to the top-selling position in 2015 and 2016, with market share rising from 8.5 per cent to 13.2 per cent last year. This success has continued into 2017, with Ford commercial vehicle sales growing by more than 9 per cent in the first seven months of the year, and market share increasing further to 13.3 per cent. Linda Cash, vice president manufacturing, Ford of Europe, said of this announcement: “Ford is setting the pace in the European commercial vehicle market, with the larger Transit models generating record levels of sales. “This strategic investment by Ford Otosan will enable us to keep pace with customer demand – particularly as innovations like the Transit Custom Plug-in Hybrid come on stream in 2019 and beyond.”