Ford to Boost Capacity to Make Heavy-Duty Pickups

Ford Motor Co. will invest $80 million to increase capacity by 15% at the factory in Kentucky that produces its Super Duty F-Series pickup truck.

Joe Hinrichs, Ford president of the Americas, tells Bloomberg Television the expansion will add about 350 jobs and increase annual capacity at the Louisville facility by about 55,000 trucks.

Hinrichs says Super Duty tmodels such as the F-250 make up about 40% of sales of F-Series trucks, America's best-selling vehicle. U.S. F-Series sales surged 18% to 763,400 units last year.