06-04-08: After seeing it at auto shows and reading about the new Ford Flex for the last year, the cool new crossover is rolling off the production line. This week, the Oakville Assembly Complex in Ontario Canada, where the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX are built, celebrated the completion of the first Ford Flex vehicles headed for dealerships.
“Today, we’re providing still more evidence that Ford is committed to delivering more products people want, further building on our crossover leadership,” Mark Fields, Ford’s President of The Americas told more than 1,000 employees, government officials and Canadian Auto Workers representatives at the launch celebration. “Flex drives as good as it looks, and the Oakville team is going to deliver another high-quality crossover for customers.”
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The Oakville plant has increased production and is adding 500 jobs in an effort to keep up with the demand for its hot-selling crossovers. Since gas prices have spiked in the past couple of years, crossover vehicles like the Flex have been the fastest-growing vehicle segment in North America this decade. People are trading in their Expeditions, their Tahoes and other full sized SUV’s for this new crop of vehicles that offer the same interior room, with a better handling and more efficient car based chassis.
The Flex will benefit from Ford’s new Global Product Development System to ensure high quality at every stage of the vehicle’s development. By running thousands of engineering checks in the vehicle’s digital pre-assembly phase, the product team dramatically reduced the number of potential manufacturing concerns, helping ensure Flex will meet the highest customer expectations in every market where it’s sold.
“We continue to raise the bar on ourselves with standardized quality-driven processes in all areas of the company – design, product development, manufacturing and customer service,” said Joe Hinrichs, group vice president, Global Manufacturing and Labor Affairs. “Now Ford’s quality is on par with the best in the industry. Our unrelenting commitment to world-class quality guides everything we do.”
We had a chance to take a ride in the new Ford Flex last April and came away very impressed with the style, quality and refinement that Ford has executed with it (Story). Besides the new and hip look, the Flex is packed with new features and gizmos that will attract many buyers including the latest generation of Ford’s successful SYNC technology, which allows for voice activation of in-car technology as well as hand-free operation of mobile phones and MP3 players.
One of the cool options on the docket is a compressor-driven refrigerator/freezer located in the center console of the 2nd row seats. It is perfect for road trips and large enough for a six-pack of soda and sandwiches. Also groovy is the optional multi-panel Vista Roof, which gives each individual in the vehicle their own view - even in the third row.
In about a month, the new “game changer” will start hitting the ground in your hometowns. Then you too can get behind the wheel of this new people mover from Ford.
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