Ford Motor Co. will start making a lower-priced Lincoln sport utility vehicle at its factory on Fern Valley Road starting in the spring, but has no plans to add workers or pay more overtime.
The Louisville Assembly Plant, with 4,500 employees, is already running around the clock and is on pace to produce about 380,000 Ford Escape compact SUVs this year. Ford officials would not disclose annual production of the new Lincoln MKC, but have indicated to analysts that it would be about 30,000 vehicles annually, said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst with Edmunds.com.
“They have been very good at eking out more and more production,” she said about Ford’s ability to accommodate the MKC production in Louisville with existing staff. Company production figures show 24 trial versions of the MKC were built at Louisville Assembly last month.