Ford to push up F-150 production at Claycomo

While the rest of the news out of the auto industry is all doom and gloom, it looks like Ford has found an unexpected bright spot.

The Associated Press is reporting that the automaker plans to ramp up production of its F-150 pickup trucks at its Claycomo assembly plant.

Angie Kozleski, a Ford spokeswoman, told the AP that Ford will add a second shift to the production of F-150s during the week of Jan. 12.

This is surprising considering Ford on Tuesday said light truck sales for its namesake Ford brand, Lincoln and Mercury were off 29 percent last month compared with November 2007. But Ford said its market share grew in November, helped by a recovery in its pickup truck segment and that sales of Ford’s top selling F-Series pickups dropped 19 percent, significantly less than most of the automaker’s other models.

“Despite the challenges in the market, the fullsize pickup remains one of the big sellers in the industry and we are ensuring we have capacity to meet market demand,” Kozleski said.

However, while the F-150 line is adding a shift, Claycomo will be eliminating a shift on its Ford Escape and Mercury mariner sports utility vehicle line. About 800 workers will be affected by the shift change, Kozleski said.