“The global automotive industry remains severely constrained due to the ongoing chip shortage and the lingering disruption to shipping logistics as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic,” says Dhiren Vanmali, executive sales operations director of Ford South Africa.
“Accordingly, our operations have been hampered by numerous supply constraints throughout this year, and our production facilities haven’t been able to run at full capacity.
“However, the situation is improving thanks to the hard work and dedication of our purchasing, manufacturing and logistics teams as well as our supplier network, and this is reflected in our export results for September. It bodes well for the upcoming and exciting launch of our Next-Gen Ranger which remains on track for the end of the fourth quarter this year,” Vanmali says.
Ford invested R15.8bn in its Silverton Assembly Plant operations and supplier tooling for the Next-Gen Ranger. This included the construction of an all-new Body Shop, an on-site stamping plant and the only Ford-owned Frame Line in the world located in the adjacent Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone .
Furthermore, all of the existing manufacturing facilities were modernised and upgraded. It also facilitated the highest-ever installed capacity for the Silverton Assembly Plant, which is now capable of producing up to 200,000 vehicles per year.
An additional R600m was invested in the Struandale Engine Plant in Gqeberha for the launch of the new 3l V6 diesel engine that will power the Next-Gen Ranger models. It also introduced updated versions of the current 2l single turbo and bi-turbo engines that are assembled at the Struandale Plant and will be the mainstay of the new Ranger line-up.
