Ford to launch 7 new vehicles in N Africa this year

As part of its global growth plan, Ford Motor Company is expanding its operations in North Africa with a new regional sales office in Casablanca and a purchasing office in Tangier.

“Morocco is a great place to do business,” said Kalyana Sivagnanam, director, Ford Middle East & North Africa. “Morocco has a very skilled and motivated workforce, a growing automotive supplier ecosystem, access to ports, free and fair trade agreements and a very pro-business mindset. Ford is delighted to partner with Morocco to expand our operations in North Africa.”

“We are proud to partner with a multinational company like Ford to grow its business in Morocco and are very pleased it selected Casablanca and Tangier as locations for its North African sales and purchasing operations,” said Mamoune Bouhdoud, minister delegate to the Minister of Industry, Trade, Investment and Digital Economy. “We are confident that Morocco will benefit greatly from the economic impact of Ford’s presence. Morocco has great infrastructure, a pro-business mindset, a highly trained workforce, an automotive supply base, a strategic positioning and a challenging industrial strategy. All these are great assets that are advocating for a more ambitious win-win partnership with Ford.”

Ford is bringing seven new vehicles to North Africa this year and will more than double the amount of parts it purchases from North African-based suppliers. The growing automotive supplier network in North Africa, primarily in Morocco, will supply parts to Ford’s assembly plant in Valencia, Spain, among other operations. 

Ford has completed a 2.3 billion euro (Rs 17,581 crore) investment in its Valencia plant – the largest automotive investment in Spanish history – allowing it to increase its volume and the number of nameplates it produces.

The upgraded facility can now produce 450,000 vehicles annually, and is flexible enough to adjust volumes among six models assembled there: Mondeo, Kuga, S-Max, Galaxy, Tourneo Connect and Transit Connect. The facility currently builds Fusion wagon, five-door, and four-door including Fusion Hybrid, Kuga SUV, Transit Connect light commercial vehicle and Tourneo Connect people-mover. It recently began production of the all-new S-MAX and Galaxy MPVs, as well as the Fusion.

“In order to support our production expansion just across the Mediterranean in Valencia, the amount of parts Ford sources in Morocco and North Africa will increase exponentially,” added Sivagnanam.  “This translates into thousands of indirect jobs and millions of dollars in investments,” he said.

 “The most important part of this expansion is that we will be bringing more vehicles that customers want and value to markets across North Africa,” said Sivagnanam.

Ford is opening 13 new retail facilities in North Africa this year. In Morocco, Ford vehicles will be available at eight new showrooms by the end of 2015.

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