Ford Motor Co. said it will begin re-tooling and re-equipping three assembly plants next month to produce the redesigned 1993 Ford Ranger compact pickup truck.
The new Ranger will go on sale at Ford dealerships in October.The $650 million program involves the Edison (N.J.) Assembly Plant, the Louisville (Ky.) Assembly Plant and the Twin Cities Assembly Plant in St. Paul, Minn. The company also will install new equipment at its Woodhaven (Mich.) and Chicago stamping plants.
The Edison and Twin Cities plants will complete production of 1992 Rangers in June and will reopen for production - after plant changes - in September.
The Louisville plant, where Ford Explorers and Mazda Navajos are produced along with the Ranger, will be the lead plant in the program. It will launch the 1993 Ranger using a simultaneous build process similar to the successful program used in the launch of the 1992 Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable.
Production of the 1993 Ranger will begin in August at Louisville and at Twin Cities and Edison in mid-September.
The re-tooling of the Edison plant will accommodate changes for both the Ford Ranger and for a version of the Ranger to be built for Mazda beginning in the spring of 1993.