Ford Responds to Surging Demand for Cars and Trucks

Ford Motor is on fire -- in a good way.

To meet "surging customer demand," said vice president of North America Manufacturing Jim Tetreault, the company has decided to add 200,000 cars and trucks to its production schedule for 2013. That's in addition to the 400,000 units in production capacity it added in 2012.

Additionally, Ford announced Wednesday that it is cutting its summer line shutdown time in half, to just one week, at 20 of its North American plants. By reducing shutdown time, the company says it will actually be increasing capacity this year by closer to 240,000 units than to the 200,000 headline figure.

In related news, Ford says it is progressing toward its plan to hire 12,000 new hourly workers by 2015. Last year, the company made 8,000 salaried and hourly hires. This year, it expects to add 3,500 workers to the payroll.

Ford shares reacted positively to the news, rising 0.1% in Wednesday trading, defying the market downdraft and closing at $14.97.

The article Ford Responds to Surging Demand for Cars and Trucks originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Rich Smith has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Ford. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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