Ford: 2010 Taurus Sedan Production Hampered

This year, the 2010 Taurus is one of Ford's main and key launches, and has also been tagged as America's most innovative full-sized sedan. But the Chicago Assembly Plant has been hit by a shortage of a transmission component, due to a labor issue at an auto parts supplier in India. This is forcing Ford to keep idle its production all of next week. The Chicago plant employs around 1,300 workers, and assembles the Lincoln MKS and Taurus sedans. Though it is not very clear how many cars come out of the assembly line each week, it is believed that Ford has just 40 days' supply of the Taurus in hand.

This is not the first time the Ford Motor Co. is facing this situation. In fact, they have just come out of something similar just this week. Ford was forced to idle its Oakville (Ontario) plant for one week, which was a result of shortage in components due to a six week strike at Rico Auto Industries, something that just ended early this week only. The Ford Edge, Ford Flex and Lincoln MKT are built at the Oakville facility.

In an environment where already car manufacturers need to try all they can think of to get in the buyers (with only the government package push reviving the automobile sector a bit), Ford will have to do some serious thinking if they need to hold on to their market share, leave alone building it. Supplier shutdowns like these are the last thing they need to hamper their growth in an already feeble market environment. Spokesman Todd Nissen said Ford will continue to work with Rico Auto on how to improve supply of parts, and also on contingency plans. So here's hoping the 2010 Taurus keeps rolling out of the hut, which will be good for Ford and the buyers too.