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CHUNG-LI, Taiwan — Ford Lio Ho (FLH), Ford’s joint venture in Taiwan, held a ceremony for the locally-produced Ford Econovan and Ford Escape, commemorating the last units to roll off the production line after 33 years and 12 years, respectively.
Econovan is the longest serving production commercial vehicle in FLH’s history. With the passenger version loved by families and its truck version winning the hearts of businessmen, the vehicle clocked up 215,375 units in sales since its first production in 1980.
In response to the introduction of new emission standards and regulations in 2008, FLH engineers went the extra mile to optimize the vehicles in order to allow them to serve more customers’ needs.
Introduced to the market in 2000 as an imported product and becoming a locally-produced vehicle one year later, the Ford Escape was a pioneer in promoting SUV owner test drives with the “No Boundary Experience” in Taiwan.
During its 12 years on the production line, 151,370 Escapes have been sold. Strong sales helped boost employee confidence and team morale.
C.S. Lien, Final Assembly Plant manager, who joined the company in 1977, used “encouraged and enthusiastic” to describe him and his team when producing the SUV at FLH Commercial Vehicle Plant.
“We were motivated by the introduction of the Escape. The Commercial Vehicle team then applied every measure to improve efficiency in an effort to build more SUVs,” Lien said. “We set up a goal of building 45 units per day, but the number increased to 66 in just three months, then to more than 100 due to the positive market response.”
“Both the Econovan and Escape have played very important roles in FLH’s history,” said Thomas Fann, FLH president, during the ceremony. “During the period we produced them, we experienced many challenges. Now we can proudly say: ‘Things may get difficult, but nothing is impossible’.”