US-headquartered automaker Ford Motor Company plans to spend about $1.05bn to upgrade its Silverton plant in Pretoria, South Africa.
According to media reports, the investment will include $683mn in technological upgrades and additional machinery at the plant along with $365mn in modernizing the machinery at its suppliers’ plants. The factory produces the Ranger pickup truck model. The updates will increase the plant’s output to 200,000 units per year from 168,000 units at present.
The plant will also manufacture Volkswagen trucks under the Ford-VW partnership in South Africa. The increase in production is likely to add 1,200 new jobs to the plant’s workforce, totaling 5,500 employees.