In an effort to further serve the growing demand for SUVs in North America, Ford has announced that it will be increasing the production of its Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs in its Kentucky manufacturing plant. The boost in production will also result in the addition of 550 new job positions to assemble the vehicles.
According to the 115-year old automotive manufacturer, it will be transferring around 500 workers from its assembly plant in Louisville to help in boosting its production output. The company hopes to drastically increase its output by as much as 20 percent by July. Despite belonging to different brands under the same company, both the Expedition and Lincoln Navigator share the same platform, which means that most of the components, features, and parts, and the same.
The company revealed that the move was instigated by the rapid rise in sales of both vehicles in the past year. Ford reportedly had a 35 percent increase in sales for their Expedition SUV; helping it achieve a 5.6 percent increase in market share in the particular segment. The average buying price for the particular SUV has also increased by US$11,700 to around US$62,700 per unit.
The same story goes for the company's Lincoln Navigator SUV, which is basically the premium and luxury version of the Expedition. Sales of Ford's premium SUV reportedly climbed by more than 70 percent in 2018 with Ford selling close to 18,000 units.
The move to increase its production in the United States also comes as the company cuts back on costs abroad. Ford announced last week that it was going to be cutting close to 5,000 jobs in Germany and thousands more in the United Kingdom. Aside from its plans to cut back on costs abroad, the company is also planning to cut into its salaried workers in the United States through a massive restructuring plan that would help it reach its revenue goals. The plan will reportedly cost Ford US$11 billion to pull off. Most of the fund will be used to retool current plants, shift thousands of workers, and expand profitable product lines.
Over the last 12 months, Ford shares have fallen by as much as 23 percent. However, following the announcement of the restructuring plan, share prices have slightly recovered to more than 12 percent since the start of the year. Ford's plan is the company's attempt to adapt to the shifting market, where there is now less demand for compact cars and sedans. The company plans to drastically increase its production of in-demand vehicle types, such as pickups, SUVs, and crossovers. Ford's rival, General Motors, has also announced plans to close down sedan-only production plants to focus more on producing in-demand vehicles
