Ford invests $1.2 billion in truck, SUV and mobility market with Michigan plants
March 28, 2017
Ford’s Romeo engine plant produces components for its F-series vehicles (Courtesy Ford)
Ford Motor Company has announced it will invest $1.2 billion in three of its manufacturing facilities in Michigan, USA, to strengthen its position in trucks and SUVs and support its expansion into an auto and mobility company.
The company plans to invest $150 million to expand capacity for engine components for several vehicles at Ford’s Romeo Engine Plant, Michigan. The facility produces engines for Ford Super Duty, E-Series, Ford Shelby GT 350 Mustang and Shelby GT350R Mustang, along with components for F-Series, Mustang, Explorer and Edge. This investment adds capacity and tooling for components for an additional engine when the plant begins its transformation in early 2018. In North America alone, Ford has invested more than $3.8 billion to develop more than 30 engines since 2009, when the company introduced its first EcoBoost® engine. Since then, Ford has produced more than 8 million engines globally with the fuel-saving technology.
Ford is investing $850 million in its Michigan Assembly Plant to retool the plant to build the all-new Ford Ranger and Ford Bronco. The Michigan Assembly Plant will begin building the Ranger at the end of 2018 and the Bronco in 2020. Ford will also invest $200 million into an advanced data centre. This will be the second of two new data centres built by Ford in Michigan, ahead of company expectations for a data usage increase of 1,000% – driven by manufacturing and business needs and new mobility services, such as more connected, autonomous and electrified vehicles. The new data centre will be located at Ford’s Flat Rock Assembly Plant.
“At Ford, we are investing aggressively in building on our strengths today – including trucks, vans, commercial vehicles, performance vehicles and SUVs – while at the same time growing our leadership in electrification, autonomy and mobility services,” stated Joe Hinrichs, Ford President, The Americas. “As America’s top producer of automobiles, we are proud to be going even further in our commitment to invest in manufacturing here at home.”
During the past five years, Ford has invested $12 billion in its U.S. plants and created a total of nearly 28,000 US jobs. Work to transform Michigan Assembly Plant is expected to begin in May 2017.
