Ford Motor Co. today signed an agreement with a union in Spain that secures assembly of the Ford Focus at the company’s Almussafes, Valencia, plant until 2013.
It is unclear whether the agreement will have any impact on the Wayne Assembly Plant in Michigan, which builds the Ford Focus for the United States market.
Ford’s head of global product development, Derrick Kuzak, has said that the next- generation Ford Focus will be built on the same platform worldwide. But the company might still need multiple manufacturing facilities around the world to meet global demand for the small car.
Under the terms of the agreement between Ford and the Valencia UGT union, the company has confirmed its intention to introduce up to three new small and medium segment models into the plant and that the plant would be producing at least 350,000 vehicles per year across three shifts.
Ford will also be investing the equivalent of $580.7 million at Almussafes in support of this initiative.
The Valencia UGT union has, in turn, committed to assist the company in achieving labor cost savings required to keep the plant cost competitive with the rest of the European vehicle manufacturing industry.
“With the signing of this agreement today, I am pleased to be able to dispel any uncertainties about the future of the Valencia plant. I have always said it was one of our most efficient and flexible plants in Europe,” Ford of Europe President and CEO John Fleming said in a statement.
Contact SARAH A. WEBSTER at 313-222-5394 or swebster@freepress.com.
