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PORT ELIZABETH - Ford SA is to assemble 3.2-litre Duratorq five-cylinder turbodiesel engines for export to the US.
The company's Port Elizabeth plant will increase production of the engine by 31 000 a year to meet US demand for the engine recently introduced with the Ford Ranger bakkie. It will be used in one of Europe's most popular vans, the Transit, when it joins the Ford US line-up for the first time in 2013.
The engine will be known there as the 3.2 Power Stroke diesel and will be Ford SA's first engine export to the US. Though the Transit is also expected in South African during the second quarter of 2013 the locally-built big diesel won't be used in it. Instead, SA will get a 2.2 diesel sourced from the UK and Turkey. Go figure...
The company's Port Elizabeth plant will increase production of the engine by 31 000 a year to meet US demand for the engine recently introduced with the Ford Ranger bakkie. It will be used in one of Europe's most popular vans, the Transit, when it joins the Ford US line-up for the first time in 2013.
The engine will be known there as the 3.2 Power Stroke diesel and will be Ford SA's first engine export to the US. Though the Transit is also expected in South African during the second quarter of 2013 the locally-built big diesel won't be used in it. Instead, SA will get a 2.2 diesel sourced from the UK and Turkey. Go figure...
GLOBAL FLEXIBILITY
Satya Banda, manager of the Struandale engine plant, said: "Duratorq TDCi production for North America is in line with our focus on leveraging capacity and offering global flexibility, as part of the 'One Ford' strategy.
"The expansion programme will see equipment added to the machining and assembly lines.”
The Duratorq TDCi will be exported to a Kansas City plant which received an R8.5-billion investment for the Transit programme which will start in late 2013.