George S. May Business Blog

Ford dumps $450 million more into converting Michigan Assembly Plant

Ford has made public its plans to throw $450 million at Michigan Assembly Plant and its electric vehicle plan, set to begin in Michigan in 2012. The electric vehicle plan will focus entirely on designing, building and launching Ford’s “next-generation” lines of hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The announcement came from Executive Chairman Bill Ford late in the first day of the Detroit Auto Show’s media preview.

This was somewhat of a surprise to some as Ford has already solidified plans to invest $550 million into the same Michigan Plant; the plan is to transform the huge SUV factory into a factory used solely for producing Ford’s new Focus and the Focus Electric. The additional $450 million will be used to transform that entire plant into the main production site of next-generation hybrid, plug-in hybrid and full battery electric vehicles, all of which will be built off the company’s new global C-car platform.

Ford finally seems to be on the right track. Most anyone paying attention could see that arrogance and tradition had gotten in the way at American car companies and as a result those companies fell behind. I think Bill Ford’s statement on the issue seems promising, should he and the rest of Ford for that matter, prove to be sincere:

This investment underscores how serious we are about delivering a range of electrified vehicles to customers—including hybrids, plug-in hybrids and pure electric vehicles. Our industry is at the intersection of three critical global issues—the economy, energy and the environment. The winning companies will be those that address these issues with vehicles that are also exciting and fun to drive, without compromises.

—Bill Ford

Look for Ford to try to flood the market with hybrids and plug-in vehicles over the next 3 years or so.

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