Ford has celebrated what it billed as the “opening of a new era” at its Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan which will build the ‘One Ford’ 2013 Fusion, the NAFTA version of the 2013 European Mondeo.
To meet Fusion production growth plans (the model line is already an established nameplate in the US), the automaker is adding 1,200 jobs, a second production shift, and spending US$555m while taking full management control of the former AutoAlliance International plant originally established with Mazda to build both automakers’ products such as the Probe, MX-6 and 6.
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The upgraded plant will have a fully flexible body shop and an upgraded paint shop with an environment friendly three-wet coating process when production begins in 2013.
“The new Flat Rock Assembly Plant symbolises the growth driven by our One Ford plan,” said the automaker’s president of The Americas, Mark Fields. “Ford continues investing in people, products and plants to deliver the head-turning, fuel-efficient, fun-to-drive vehicles people really want.”
Though now under the full management control of Ford, the plant remains owned by a 50/50 joint venture with Mazda Motor.
Following the end of US Mazda6 production last month (the redesigned line will be imported from Hofu, Japan), the plant will continue to produce Ford’s populart Mustang coupe and convertible before adding the Fusion next year.
Flat Rock Assembly will be the US producer of that model, employing 2,900 workers on both vehicle lines. North American Fusions will also be made at Hermosillo, Mexico.
In addition to adding 1,200 new hourly jobs tied to Fusion production, Ford also is spending that $555m on a fully flexible body shop capable of producing multiple vehicles. This is part of the automaker’s policy of, with each new major plant upgrade programme, significantly increasing the flexibility of equipment and facilities to build multiple vehicles at one location.
By 2015, it will be able to produce 25% more derivatives per plant compared with 2011 on a global basis.
The three-wet paint process, which Ford is rolling out across more than 15 assembly plants globally, allows three layers of paint to be applied one after another while still wet, with less manual intervention, resulting in a claimed superior product created with fewer pollutants and less expense.
“By fully incorporating Flat Rock Assembly into our manufacturing system, we are able to take advantage of internal efficiencies that will streamline our ability to produce vehicles,” said North American manufacturing chief Jim Tetreault. “This is critical as we increase our capacity to meet growing customer demand for our products.”
Introduced six years ago, the Fusion is part of the fastest-growing segment in the US this year – midsize sedans. Ford expects the segment, which totaled 2.1m vehicles in 2011, to continue growing. The Fusion’s share of the segment has doubled to 12% since it was introduced and the car has set sales records in five of the first seven months of this year.
The 2013 Fusion variant of the Mondeo will offer the claimed widest selection of fuel-efficient powertrains in the segment – two EcoBoost petrol engines, a normally aspirated four-cylinder engine, a hybrid (shown in Mondeo form to European media in Amsterdam last week) and a plug-in hybrid.
Ford claims the Fusion Hybrid’s 47 city mpg fuel economy beats the 2012 Camry Hybrid LE by 4 mpg in the city. The Fusion Energi’s MPGe of 100 tops the 2013 Chevrolet Volt’s by 2 MPGe.
The Fusion will also offer US buyers seven so-called ‘must-have technologies’, including a lane-keeping system, adaptive cruise control, active park assist and MyFord Touch.
Opened in 1987 as Mazda Motor Manufacturing USA, the plant in Flat Rock first produced the Mazda MX-6. In 1992, Ford purchased a 50% share in the plant and it was renamed AutoAlliance International. Over the years, the plant produced the Mazda 626, Mazda6, Mercury Cougar and Ford Probe. Mustang production was shifted to the plant in 2005.
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