Three Ford plants in North America will shutter their doors for just one week this summer, instead of the usual two weeks, owing to strong demand in the SUV segment.
“Strong customer demand for our SUVs means we will operate some of our North American plants during the traditional two-week summer shutdown,” said Ford VP of North American Manufacturing Gary Johnson in a statement. “Our SUV assembly plants will continue to build vehicles to make sure we have enough of our popular SUVs to meet customer demand.”
In all, Ford will be able to produce an extra 22,000 SUVs this summer. Ford SUV sales totalled 325,475 through the first five months of 2016, representing a 9-percent increase over the same period last year. The three plants that will be idled for just one week instead of the usual two are Louisville Assembly Plant (Ford Escape, Lincoln MKC), Chicago Assembly Plant (Explorer), and Ontario’s Oakville Assembly Plant (Ford Edge, Flex, Lincoln MKX, MKT). Those facilities, along with their supporting stamping plants, will shut down only on the week of July 4th for maintenance and retooling.
In addition, Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant will also have a shortened summer vacation, as the facility prepares to produce the new, 2017 Ford Super Duty.
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