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Ford to Build New Hybrids, Autonomous Vehicle in Michigan
Ford Motor Co. says it will invest $700 million and add 700 jobs at its Flat Rock, Mich., assembly plant over the next four years to build an all-electric small crossover/SUV in 2020 and an unspecified self-driving hybrid vehicle a year later.
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Ford Motor Co. says it will invest $700 million and add 700 jobs at its Flat Rock, Mich., assembly plant over the next four years to build an all-electric small crossover/SUV in 2020 and an unspecified self-driving hybrid vehicle a year later.
The Flat Rock investment will include a new manufacturing innovation center. The plant will continue to produce the Ford Mustang pony car and Lincoln Continental luxury sedan.
Ford says the electric SUV, which will be sold in North America, Europe and Asia, will have a 300-mile driving range. The autonomous vehicle is described as a high-volume model—without a steering wheel or foot pedals—that will be designed for commercial ride-hailing services, starting in North America.
In addition to these two vehicles, Ford provided details about five more of the 13 electrified vehicles it plans to launch in the next five years. They comprise a hybrid versions of the Mustang and top-selling F-150 pickup truck, a plug-in hybrid Transit van and two “pursuit-rated” hybrid police cars. The hybrid Mustang, which also will be built in Flat Rock starting in 2020, initially will be sold in North America.
The F-150 will be produced at Ford’s Dearborn, Mich., plant in 2020. It will be sold in North America and the Middle East. The hybrid Transit will be launched in Europe in 2019. Ford didn’t say where it will build the electrified van.
One of the two new hybrid police cars will be assembled in Chicago. Both will be upfitted with their police gear at Ford’s police vehicle modification center in Chicago. Ford CEO Mark Fields says the company also plans two more all-new electrified models, but he offered no details.
The vehicles will be Ford’s first hybrids powered by the company’s turbocharged EcoBoost engines rather than naturally aspirated powerplants, which Ford says will further boost performance and fuel economy.
The company previously said it will invest $4.5 billion in electrified vehicles by 2020. It expects global industry sales of such vehicles to surpass those of piston-powered models within 15 years.
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