Ford's Escape and Lincoln's MKC to have an extra week of build during the summer shutdown to meet demand.

• Ford is building its most popular SUV, the Ford Escape, an extra week at Louisville Assembly Plant this summer due to stronger demand
• Portions of seven North American Ford component plants will take a one-week shutdown, while all other North American Ford plants will take the traditional two-week summer shutdown
• Ford continues to match production with customer demand

Ford Escape and Lincoln MKC sales are off to their best start in company history during the first five months of the year, prompting the company to shorten the traditional two-week summer shutdown at Louisville Assembly Plant to build more than 8,500 additional vehicles there.

“The record sales for Ford Escape through May are being driven by strong demand from our retail customers,” said Raj Nair, Ford’s executive vice president and president – North America. “This is our strongest ever retail start for Escape, with retail sales up more than 6 percent versus this time last year.”

Ford Escape sales totaled 129,805 through May of this year, a 3 percent increase versus the same time period last year and our best ever start to the year for Escape. Lincoln MKC sales totaled 11,161 in the first five months of the year, up approximately 10 percent over this time period last year.

Louisville Assembly Plant is the only assembly plant in North America that will shorten the summer shutdown period. The remainder of Ford assembly plants in North America will have a traditional two-week summer shutdown.

Portions of a number of component plants will take a one-week summer shutdown, including: Van Dyke Transmission, Sterling Axle, Chihuahua Engine, Rawsonville, Chicago Stamping, Michigan Assembly Stamping and Woodhaven Stamping. Those plants will be closed the week of July 4 for building maintenance and machine retooling.

This production was included in the second quarter production guidance that Ford provided on April 27