Forty-nine years to the day after its 1964 debut in New York, Ford’s Mustang celebrated another milestone: 1m have rolled off the line at Flat Rock assembly plant since production moved there in 2004.
Raj Nair, group vice president for global product development, rode off the line in a Ruby Red 2014 Mustang convertible. Nair was riding shotgun with Ed Salna, material planning and logistics manager at the plant. Salna is a 27-year veteran starting work there more than a year before the plant produced its first car.
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Ford has built Mustangs near its home base in Dearborn, Michigan for 49 years. The car was built first at Ford’s famous Rouge factory, just a few minutes from company headquarters, for four decades before moving a few miles south to Flat Rock in 2004.
Championed by Lee Iacocca (it was based on Falcon underpinnings) and introduced in April 1964, the Mustang proved to be far more popular than anyone expected, prompting Ford to add production capacity outside Michigan. By early 1965 plants in Metuchen, New Jersey and San Jose, California were also building the line. On 2 March 1966, the millionth Mustang rolled off the line in Dearborn. To date, Ford has produced and sold over 8.5m. It has never officially done right hand drive versions but Ford Australia sold some locally converted units about a decade ago.
The launch of Mustang production at Flat Rock coincided with introduction of the then new fifth-generation model – first in the series to get a dedicated platform. In addition to the standard V6 and the V8-powered GT model, Mustangs coming out of Flat Rock assembly plant have included several special editions and race cars.
Flat Rock factory has been producing vehicles since 1987 when it opened as Mazda Motor Manufacturing USA and built the MX-6. In 1992 Ford purchased a 50% share in the plant and it was renamed AutoAlliance International. Over the years the plant has produced the Mazda 626, 6, Mercury Cougar and Ford Probe. It will add production of the Fusion [Mondeo] sedan later this year.
“Flat Rock has gone through an amazing transformation over the past year,” said Tim Young, plant manager, Flat Rock assembly plant. “We’ve invested US$555m including a fully flexible body shop and an upgraded paint shop.”
Ford is adding 1,400 jobs and a second shift at Flat Rock assembly plant to support Fusion production as part of its plan to add 12,000 hourly jobs in the US by the end of 2015.
