Ford Launches U.S. Production of Medium-Duty Trucks

Ford Motor Co., which previously sourced its medium-duty F-650 and F-750 commercial trucks from Mexico, has begun making them for the first time in the U.S.

Output officially launched on Tuesday at Ford's factory in Avon Lake, Ohio. The company spent $168 million last year to prepare the facility to build the trucks. They will be offered with a choice of Ford's next-generation V-8 diesel or V-10 gasoline engine.

The medium-duty trucks had been produced for more than a decade by Ford's Blue Diamond Truck venture with Navistar International Inc. in Escobedo, Mexico. The production shift to Ohio turns Ford into a competitor of Navistar, which has earned an estimated $400 million per year from the Blue Diamond partnership.

The Avon Lake plant formerly built large Econoline vans and club wagons. It will continue to make E-Series cutaways and stripped chassis vehicles in addition to the F-650 and F-750 trucks.