PRETORIA, South Africa, January 1st, 2023: Ford has begun exporting the Next-Generation Ranger from its South African manufacturing plants to meet the rising customer demand. The South African-made Next-Gen Ranger is being exported to over one hundred international markets.
The Silverton Assembly Plant in Pretoria became Ford’s third manufacturing base within its International Markets Group (IMG) late last year in order to begin production of this highly awaited new global model, which went on sale in South Africa in mid-December 2022.
“We are pleased to begin exporting Next-Gen Ranger from our world-class manufacturing facility in South Africa to customers around the globe.”
We remain committed to providing high-quality Next-Gen Rangers from our Silverton Assembly Plant and Struandale Engine Plant despite having modernized local production and boosted installed capacity to a record 200,000 vehicles per year.
Two-thirds of South Africa’s monthly production is anticipated to be exported through the Durban and Gqeberha (previously Port Elizabeth) ports, with Europe being the major export market. This makes Ford one of South Africa’s largest exporters of vehicles and the leader in the export category for light commercial vehicles.
The two-port local plan is vital for Ford’s increased export volumes, with the Gqeberha route poised to play a more significant role once a more efficient and dependable rail link is created between Gauteng and the Eastern Cape.
Next-Gen Ranger Exports 4
David-John Kleinhans, Team Leader, FVL Xolisani Moya, Principal Surveyor, C.A.R Consulting Group BV Captain Ashoka S.A Sapuarachchige, Master M.V. Cassiopeia Leader, NYK Raymond Williams, Supervisor of Ranger Export Vehicle Logistics, Ford South Africa Nolundi Mhlauli is the Operations Manager for Transnet Port Terminals in Port Elizabeth. Jaysen Naidoo, Director of Operations for Sturrock Grindrod Maritime
Berry added, “We are excited about the enormous export potential and continue to work with authorities to address bottlenecks such as the high level of congestion at Durban’s roll-on roll-off (RORO) vehicle terminal and the lack of rail infrastructure for Ford to direct the majority of its export and import through Gqeberha.”
The Silverton Assembly Plant was modernized and expanded with an investment of US$1.05 billion (R15.8 billion), which was announced in 2021, to ensure that Ford’s South African operations are globally competitive and an integral part of the company’s turnaround strategy for its automotive operations. The extensive upgrades included the construction of an on-site Stamping Plant, a highly automated, all-new Body Shop, the establishment of the only Ford-owned Frame Line in the world, a complete overhaul of the Assembly Line with the most advanced technologies, and substantial investments in the most advanced supplier tooling. The expanded and enhanced facilities were crucial to unlocking the plant’s installed capacity of 200,000 vehicles per year while reliably delivering world-class quality to Ford’s global customers.
Thanks to the establishment of a third manufacturing shift at the Silverton plant in 2022, the increased output of the Next-Generation Ranger also contributed significantly to job creation.
Additional US$34 million (R600 million) was invested in the Struandale Engine Plant for the launch of the 3.0L V6 Diesel engine that would be the flagship of the Next-Gen Ranger lineup, as well as updates to the latest-specification 2.0L Single Turbo and 2.0L Bi-Turbo engines.
Thanks to the establishment of a third manufacturing shift at the Silverton plant in 2022, the increased output of the Next-Generation Ranger also contributed significantly to job creation. This strengthened Ford’s dedication to South Africa as one of five worldwide manufacturing sites for the Next-Generation Ranger. 1 200 jobs were added for the new shift, bringing the total number of employees at Ford to 5,500. Local manufacture for the Next-Gen Ranger currently supports over 60 000 jobs across the whole value chain, with the addition of approximately 10 000 employment at supplier firms.
»Ford has begun exporting the next-generation Ranger«