Ford
has announced a £130m expenditure to it’s Solihull, UK plant. The money will
go towards a new car parts pressing plant as well as upgrading the assembly line
for the new ‘super’ Range Rover.
The company also said it
would commit a further £400m to £500m a year on product development
for Range Rover.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Ford’s plan is to have the
company into profit by 2002. Exports to the USA and to Japan will lead the profit
revival. As well as a new ‘super’ Range Rover, a new Freelander – with appeal
to the American market – is being developed alongside a new Defender.
Chief executive, Bob Dover,
said on his appointment earlier this year that Britain was not a good place
in which to build cars. He was referring to the weakness of the euro.
This announcement by Ford
leads to the conclusion that it will be cheaper to bring the Solihull plant
up to a higher standard rather than build a new plant – or use an existing Ford
plant – in Europe. It seems likely that Ford did not trouble the UK government
for a subsidy.
