A confident Ford Motor Co. plans to add 5,000 U.S. jobs in 2014, including 3,300 salaried positions; open two plants in Asia Pacific and one in South America; and launch 23 vehicles globally.
Most of the 3,300 salaried positions are likely to be in Southeast Michigan. More than 80 percent of the new salaried jobs will be technical professionals who work in product development, manufacturing, quality and IT, a company statement said.
“Next year, we are embarking on our most ambitious global launch year ever to meet customer demand for our products around the world,” Raj Nair, group vice president for Ford global product development, said in a statement.
Ford plans 16 launches in North America. They include the Ford Mustang, Ford Transit Connect, Ford Transit and Lincoln MKC.
“We saw unprecedented growth in the United States this year, especially in the midsize and utility segments,” Joe Hinrichs, Ford president of the Americas, said in the statement. “With the addition of 16 new products to our showroom, including Ford Mustang, our momentum continues.”
Ford plans to hire more than 6,000 employees in Asia next year, the vast majority of them hourly employees. In the United States, Ford's expected creation of 5,000 jobs is the largest hiring initiative since 2000. In the past two years, the company has created more than 14,000 jobs in North America.