Ford will keep building Jaguar’s V6 engine at its Brook Park plant in suburban Detroit in the United States, instead of moving production to England in 2004, the Detroit News reported.
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The newspaper said the decision increases job security for about 500 workers who build the V6 engine, used in Jaguar’s X- and S-type models, at Engine Plant No. 2, which has 1,875 hourly workers.
The Detroit News said Ford had announced in 2001 that it would move production of the engines to its plant in Bridgend, Wales, so they would be closer to Jaguar’s final assembly plants [the former Ford Escort plant at Halewood, near Liverpool, that now makes the X-type and the Castle Bromwich S-type facility near Birmingham].
Citing Ford spokesman John Gardiner, the Detroit News said Ford has decided to build six-cylinder Volvo engines at Bridgend, instead.
The newspaper said Ford also builds the Duratec V6 for the Taurus and Escape engine in Brook Park, and this engine is easy to convert to the Jaguar engine specification.
CSM Worldwide director of global powertrain forecasts Eric Fedewa told the Detroit News that the Jaguar line should be safe as long as Duratec production continues, which should be many years.
