Ford to add three plants, 23 products in 2014

Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, Mich., has announced plans to launch 23 new vehicles and open three more manufacturing facilities (two in Asia Pacific and one in South America).

Sixteen of the new vehicle launches will be in North America, including Ford Mustang®, Ford Transit Connect®, Ford Transit®, and Lincoln MKC®. In all, Ford expects to have about three times the number of product launches in 2014 in North America than in 2013.

Production of the all-new Transit will begin in second-quarter 2014 at Ford's newly retooled Kansas City Assembly Plant. Ford is investing $1.1 billion to retool and expand the facility. The plant will add more than 2,000 jobs, including 1,000 new hires.

The company is on track to open its Changan Ford Assembly Plant No. 3 and Changan Transmission Plant in Chongqing, China, as well as Camaçari Engine Plant in Brazil. The new Chongqing plant will increase the company’s production capacity in China by 300,000 units in 2014.

Ford plans to hire more than 6,000 employees, mostly hourly, in Asia in 2014. In the U.S., the manufacturer expects to create more than 5,000 new jobs, including 3,300 salaried positions. More than 80 percent of the new salaried jobs will be technical professionals who work in product development, manufacturing, quality, and IT.