Ford Africa boss hails Ranger launch as a milestone

The launch of the newgeneration Ford Ranger bakkie is a milestone in the local history of the Ford brand, which will celebrate its SA centenary next year, Ford Africa president Neale Hill said on Tuesday.

He was speaking at the company’s Silverton, Tshwane, vehicle assembly plant at the official start of production of the new vehicle — the result of a R15.8bn investment from the US parent company.

The yellow double-cab vehicle was the first to be built after a transformation of the plant and the creation of an adjacent special economic zone to house local and multinational component suppliers. The project has created 1,200 new jobs at the plant and 10,000 at suppliers. Of the R15.8bn, R10.3bn was spent on the plant and R5.5bn to help suppliers tool up and prepare for the new model.

The previous Ranger model was launched in 2011. By the time production ended last week, the Silverton plant had built 857,751 vehicles. Of those, 271,000 were sold in SA and nearly 600,000 exported.

The revamped plant has annual capacity to build 200,000 Rangers, up from 168,000 previously. Once production has started, Hill said, 742 vehicles will roll off the production lines daily.

That target is some way off, as the plant is still entering the “ramp-up” phase, in which production gradually accelerates.

The Silverton plant will initially build only double-cabs, Hill said. Single-cab versions will follow early in 2023. The Ranger-based Everest sports utility vehicle and Raptor performance bakkie, which used to be built in SA, will be imported.

Local and export sales will begin in mid-December, Hill said. More than 4,500 orders have already been taken from SA customers and the vehicle will be exported to more than 100 countries. SA is one of just five countries in which the Ranger will be built.

R15.8bn investment was made by the US parent company

THE SILVERTON PLANT WILL INITIALLY BUILD ONLY DOUBLE-CABS. SINGLE-CAB VERSIONS WILL FOLLOW IN 2023

The latest investment, announced in February last year, takes Ford spending in SA to more than R27bn since 2010. Hill said that to get the new Ranger out on time was “nothing short of extraordinary”.

Operations vice-president Ockert Berry said once the Silverton plant is fully operational, Ford SA, including its Gqeberha engine plant, will account for more than 1% of GDP. Ford also reinstated employment targets that were put on the back burner after the Covid-19 outbreak.