Ford To Reduce Building Platforms To 8

Ford Motor Company plans to reduce its global building platforms to just 8 in the upcoming years and is also planning to launch 15 vehicles this year worldwide, including seven in North America alone.

Ford President and CEO Mark Fields was proud that the company exceeded its goal of 23 vehicle launches in 2014.

He said, "In 2015 we're going to stay consistent with our priorities. It's a very important year where we expect significant growth and it's based on great product."

Ford initially planned to drop the number of building platforms to 9 in 2016, but were using 27 different platforms to build vehicles in 2007.

Back in 2007, Ford was building 3.9 vehicles per platform. Currently the company is able to build 5.7 vehicles per platform, and has plans to reach 6.6 vehicles per platform by the year 2019.

Of the 15 global launches Ford has planned for this year, seven will be in North America, four will be in South America, 10 will be in Europe and 18 will be in the Asia Pacific region.

The total number will be more than 15 because some vehicle models will be launched in multiple regions.

Ford also has big plans on launching performance vehicles this year, three of which have been showcased in the Detroit International Auto Show.