A Ford Ranger model. Ford Vietnam starts delivering Ford Ranger locally assembled in its factory in Hai Duong on Thursday. — Photo baotintuc.vn

Ford Ranger pickup trucks are being locally assembled at its facility in the northern province of Hai Duong and will be available for delivery on Thursday.

Currently, all Ford Ranger vehicles on offer in Viet Nam are imported.

The launch aims to mark the completion of the Ford Hai Duong expansion project’s first phase which started in January last year.

On January 14, Ford Vietnam announced it would invest an additional US$82 million into expanding its Hai Duong automobile assembly and production factory.

This move brings Ford’s total investment in Viet Nam to more than $200 million.

The factory is being expanded by more than 60,000 square metres, raising the total area to 226,000 square metres. The factory will assemble and manufacture various models of cars and spare parts, as well as provide maintenance and repair services.

The additional investment helps increase the factory’s annual output to 40,000 units from the current 14,000.

The two-phase project is due for completion by the middle of 2022.

According to Ford Vietnam, it had decided to expand production in Viet Nam due to increasing demand for Ford vehicles and had an optimistic forecast for the future development of the Vietnamese automobile industry.

The Ranger is the key product of Ford Vietnam and has been in the top 10 best-selling vehicles in the country for months. Local sales of Ford Ranger reached 754 in June, bringing the total units sold in the first half of 2021 to 6,912. — VNS