Ford announced on Monday that it would invest $ 2 billion in a Louisville assembly plant in Kentucky, aimed at deploying more affordable electric vehicles.
The investment is at the top of $ 3 billion already planned for a battery park in Michigan. Together, the facilities will create or secure nearly 4,000 new jobs, Ford said in a statement.
“We have adopted a radical approach to a very difficult challenge: to create affordable vehicles that delight customers in all ways that matter – design, innovation, flexibility, space, driving pleasure and the cost of property – and doing it with American workers,” said Ford Jim Farley CEO.
The new “Universal EV Universal EV” program from Detroit, focused on low-cost electric vehicles, will start with a medium-sized electric pick-up, produced at the Louisville assembly plant. This vehicle launch is scheduled for 2027.
The leaders had piled up the announcement on the company’s last call for the company as its next “Time T”. Ford said the starting price of the new EV truck, $ 30,000, will be about the same as the famous T model, when it is adjusted for inflation.
Ford noted that the lithium batteries in iron phosphate (LFP) for the new EV family will be assembled in the United States and not imported from China.
An aerial view as a Ford panel is located on the sale batch of the Metro Ford dealer on May 06, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty images
Farley said during an event in Louisville on Monday that the announcement came when the automotive industry was at the crossroads due to new technologies and competition.
“We knew that the Chinese would be the major player for us in the world, companies like Byd, new startups around the world, great technology has their ambition in automatic space. They all come for us, inherited automotive companies,” said Farley. “We needed a radical approach and a really difficult challenge to create an affordable vehicle.”
The changes also arise while Ford and other American manufacturers sail on electric vehicle change policies under President Donald Trump, including the end of EV tax credits which will take effect after September 30.
Ford said on Monday that the Louisville factory “would secure” approximately 2,200 jobs, but noted that once it will be rewarded for EV production, it will employ around 600 workers less than in its current configuration.
According to the Ford website, the factory employed more than 3,000 employees in April 2024.
Farley told Phil Lebeau de CNBC during an interview with “Squawk in the street” Monday that the automaker continues to add new jobs elsewhere.
“Ford is the only automotive company in America which has added 13,000 jobs since the recession. We are not going to stop,” said Farley.
– Phil Lebeau de CNBC contributed to this report.
Fixed: This article has been updated to correct that the Louisville assembly plant will obtain approximately 2,200 jobs. A previous version disturbed the impact of employment.