The Ford summer shutdown schedule can sometimes be a useful tool in understanding when new vehicles will begin production. The memo details when each of The Blue Oval’s plants will close for scheduled maintenance, and also for necessary retooling for new product launches. Since the automaker has several of those on the way with the 2021 Ford F-150, Ford Bronco, and Ford Bronco Sport, the latest Ford summer shutdown schedule is quite tantalizing.
A prototype of the 2021 Ford F-150
And now we know exactly what the 2020 Ford summer shutdown schedule looks like, thanks to the Detroit Free Press, which was sent the memo from an anonymous source who received the list directly from Ford. The memo contains the following shutdown dates for nine Ford U.S. plants:
- Dearborn Truck Plant: September 7th and September 14th
- Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville: June 29th
- Louisville Assembly Plant: June 29th
- Ohio Assembly in Avon Lake: July 13th
- Chicago Assembly Plant: June 29th
- Michigan Assembly in Wayne: August 17th and August 24th
- Flat Rock Assembly Plant: August 3rd
- Kansas City Assembly, Transit Van line: September 28th and October 5th
- Kansas City Assembly, F-150 line, October 12th and October 19th.
The dates for Ford’s Dearborn Truck Plant and Kansas F-150 City Assembly line coincide with the dates we reported last week concerning the production schedule of the 2021 Ford F-150, where production would begin in Dearborn on October 12th while Kansas City would kick off on November 9th. Typically, it takes around four to five weeks to retool a plant for new vehicle production, though Ford has previously said that it could complete the job in less time.
A prototype of the 2021 Ford F-150
Ford has already confirmed that the 2021 Ford F-150 will go on sale this fall, as planned. But the ever-popular pickup, along with the Ford Bronco were delayed two months due to the fact that the automaker’s plants remained idle from mid-March until May 18th, when they officially reopened for production. That downtime prevented The Blue Oval from completing the necessary steps to prepare them for producing the new models.
Meanwhile, the Bronco is expected to go on sale sometime in early 2021.
A prototype of the 2021 Ford Bronco two-door
But there is one big surprise in this leaked Ford summer shutdown schedule, however, and it pertains to the Ford Bronco Sport. We previously reported that the rugged compact crossover was slated to enter production at the Ford Hermosillo plant in Mexico on July 13th, a date that was then pushed back to September 7th due to the COVID-19 shutdown.
A prototype of the 2021 Ford Bronco Sport
However, the Ford summer shutdown schedule contained a memo that reveals that Ford already began producing the Bronco Sport on Monday, May 15th and will continue building it through July 20th before taking a seven week-long break. Production will resume on September 28th.
These are all interesting revelations, and we’ll be sure and report back when we know more. So be sure to subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford Bronco news, Bronco Sport news, Ford F-Series news, Ford F-150 news, and 24/7 Ford news coverage.
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