The Ford Ranger PHEV has marked a significant milestone for the company’s local assembly facility known as the New Model Programs (formerly Plant 2), becoming the 1000th prototype to roll out of the facility located in Campbellfield, Melbourne.
The New Model Programs (NMP) facility is located near the IMG Product Development Centre and Design Centre, and continues to build on Ford Australia’s long history of local assembly and manufacturing.
The NMP team works on projects that require bespoke craftsmanship and agile manufacturing processes – such as building engineering prototypes and ‘mules’ that support Ford’s global vehicle launches.
“It’s fitting that the Ranger PHEV is the 1000th prototype for NMP, and shows how Ford remains at the cutting edge of local vehicle development and is putting Australian skills and workers on a global stage,” said Vince Ciocca, NMP Plant Manager, Ford Australia.
The Ford Ranger PHEV program marks the first time NMP has produced an electrified prototype, and has required the NMP team to undergo upskilling and EV certification to complete the complex task of hand-building the engineering vehicles.
The internal combustion engine Ford Ranger is engineered and designed by Ford Australia, and sold in over 180 countries across the globe, including all continents except Antarctica. This expertise has played a key role in Ford Australia’s ability to deliver innovative vehicles like Ranger PHEV.
NMP was originally set up in the 1970s as a truck plant called Plant 2, and produced Broncos and F-Series for emergency services. In the 1980s, Ford introduced utes and vans and, in a first for an Australian manufacturing plant, started using robots. This was followed by work on components of the Ford Capri in 1989 and on the AU Falcon.
In the years after manufacturing closure, Ford recognised the need for an efficient solution for prototype building, so Plant 2 was transformed, a warehouse and complementary facilities added, and a team set up to build Ranger prototypes. The majority of this team – and those who work in the facility today – have many years of experience from the facility’s ‘Plant 2’ days, ensuring the right mix of skills and know-how.
More recently, NMP collaborated with Herrod Performance to produce all 500 examples of the Australian-exclusive supercharged Ford Mustang R-Spec. Other significant vehicles to roll out of NMP include the initial prototypes for the current Ranger and Everest, while the facility pivoted quickly during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic to produce face shields during the PPE shortage.
Ford Australia’s product development team members, along with their global counterparts, have been conducting engineering tests for the Ranger PHEV since last year, using prototypes built at NMP.
