Prestige Ford in Garland, Texas is excited to share some “electrifying” news from Ford Motor Company. This week, the American automaker announced it will be expanding its production capacity to make way for the company’s next-generation battery electric vehicles at a second North American plant. Ford will invest approximately $900 million in its southeast Michigan location and plans on 900 incremental direct new jobs through 2023.
Next-Gen Electric
Tied to the company’s $11.1 billion investment in global electric vehicles, Ford is expanding its BEV manufacturing footprint to its Flat Rock Assembly plant in southeast Michigan. The plant will become the production home to vehicles from the company’s next-generation battery electric flexible architecture. These vehicles will follow the all-electric performance SUV coming in 2020 from Ford’s Cuautitlan, Mexico, plant.
“We’ve taken a fresh look at the growth rates of electrified vehicles and know we need to protect additional production capacity given our accelerated plans for fully electric vehicles,” said Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president, Global Operations. “This is good news for the future of southeast Michigan, delivering more good-paying manufacturing jobs.”
Autonomous Plans
In addition, Ford announced it will complete its first autonomous vehicles at a new AV manufacturing center in southeast Michigan, upfitting purpose-built, commercial-grade hybrid vehicles with self-driving technology and unique interiors. Production of Ford’s first autonomous vehicles will begin in 2021 for deployment in commercial services to move people and goods.
“As we ramp up AV production, this plan allows us to adjust our investment spending to accommodate the pace of growth of this exciting new technology,” Hinrichs said. “This new plan combines our core strength in mass manufacturing with the agility and leanness we’ve shown with our modification centers for specialty manufacturing.”
This is one of the first steps in Ford’s building the future “plan” that was mentioned by Bryan Cranston. (Check him out in the video below)
If you’re looking for a futuristic vehicle, you don’t have to wait long! Whether it’s the tech loaded Mustang (have you seen the digital instrument cockpit?) or the 2020 Explorer that’s due out this summer, you can get your hands on a piece of the future Ford’s building. Visit PrestigeFord.com for more details, or stay connected with our social to see up-to-date news on current and future Ford news.