Ford says it will restart some US and Mexico factories in first half of April
- Ford said it would restart limited factory production in Mexico on April 6, and follow in the US on April 14.
- The US plants build pickup trucks and commercial vans.
- "We will continue to assess public health conditions as well as supplier readiness and will adjust plans if necessary," Ford said in a statement.
- Ford shut down all North American production last week as the coronavirus pandemic intensified.
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Ford will restart limited production in the US and Mexico in early April, president and North America head Kumar Galhotra said Thursday.
Last week, Ford shut down all North American production as the coronavirus pandemic intensified. The company had earlier said that it would not restart at the end of March, as previously planned.
"Ford is aiming to restart production at select plants in North America as early as April 6, bringing key plants back online while the company introduces additional safety measures to protect returning workers," Galhotra said in a statement.
He added that the first restart would be at the Hermosillo Assembly Plant in Mexico on April 6, with on one shift.
US plants would follow.
"On April 14, Ford is planning to start building vehicles at Dearborn Truck Plant, Kentucky Truck Plant, Kansas City Assembly Plant's Transit line and Ohio Assembly Plant," Galhotra said.
Dearborn Truck and Kentucky Truck both build Ford's popular pickups, and Kansas City Assembly is responsible for the top-selling Transit commercial van.
In addition, Ford said it would resume production at other supporting manufacturing facilities:
- Dearborn Stamping Plant.
- Dearborn Diversified Manufacturing Plant.
- Integrated stamping plants within Kansas City and Kentucky Truck plants.
- Sharonville Transmission Plant.
- Portions of Van Dyke Transmission, Lima Engine and Rawsonville Components plants.
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