Ford is gearing up for the next 5 years, wanting to increase its global market share.
It’s building another state of the art manufacturing and assembly plant in Thailand that would service their production in Asia and etc. If I am not mistaken, they are investing some $500 Million on this new plant.
Ford‘s huge plant in Sta. Rosa has remained under utilized since it opened some 15 years ago. Most of the products and models of Ford sold in the Philippines are imported. the Ford Expedition, Ford Explorer and the E150 van are manufactured in their plant in Dearborn, Michigan. The Ford Ranger, Fiesta, etc. are from their huge plant in Thailand. The Ford Escape is the only variant that’s being assembled in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. It’s no longer practical to maintain such big plant in Laguna because it’s under utilized. Ford will just import the Ford Escape and close the assembly department in Laguna.
Nothing will change as far as the availability of Ford products in the Philippines. The only change is they will no longer assemble Ford Escape in Laguna, and instead, would just import them completely built- up.
The all new Ford Ranger would be launched any week from now.
The Ford Explorer is built and imported from the USA. The supply in the Philippines remains scarce because of the demand alone in the US gobbles it up. Ford Group Philippines has ordered more units to serve those customers waiting since last year. But with the big interest in the Explorer, the number of units coming still won’t be enough.
