Ford is gearing up Dearborn for electric pickup
Ford has announced investments of around 700 million US dollars in their Dearborn plant. The factory in the US state of Michigan is to prepare production for the electrified variants of the F-150 pickup, among other things.
The new generation of the F-150 is to be presented together with the hybrid version 2020, the purely electric version will follow according to Ford “shortly afterwards”. The battery packs for both electrified versions of the F-150 will also be assembled in Dearborn.
In contrast, its main competitor GM announced at the beginning of December that it would manufacture its own battery cells together with LG Chem in Ohio, while Ford apparently intends to limit itself to the assembly of purchased cells. Nevertheless, 300 new jobs are to be created in Dearborn in the course of the investment – Ford, however, does not specify exactly in which area the jobs will be created.
Ford does not provide much information on the electrified variants of the F-150 in the press release, interest parties will have to make do with the vague announcements from January 2019 and the short video with a fully electric prototype from July. Plans for the electric F-150 run parallel to Ford’s stake in Rivian. However, it is conceivable that the Ford models from the cooperation will run under the Lincoln brand.
Ford has also just announced that it will invest 750 million dollars in the Wayne plant (also in Michigan). There, Ranger and Bronco models will be built, creating 2,700 jobs. However, the smaller Pickup Ranger and the SUV Bronco will not be made in an electric version for the time being. “At Ford, we are aggressively investing in expanding our current strengths – including pickups and SUVs – while expanding our leadership position in electric and autonomous vehicles,” says Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president for the auto division.
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