Ford Investing $600 Million, Adding 1,800 Jobs to Produce Next-Generation Escape in Louisville

[boomerbust]

Source: msnmoney.com

Ford is investing $600 million to transform its Louisville Assembly Plant into a state-of-the-art facility, becoming Ford's most-flexible high-volume plant in the world


When the fully transformed Louisville Assembly Plant re-opens in late 2011, it will operate on two production shifts, requiring 1,800 incremental jobs from today's staffing levels to be filled through a combination of existing Ford workers and new hires


Construction begins in mid-December, allowing installation of new tooling, body shop equipment and other upgrades necessary to build the next-generation Escape for North America; key UAW employees from the plant will help transform the facility


Based on the company's commitment to this investment and incremental jobs, the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the city of Louisville approved tax incentives that enable Ford's move to transform the plant and maintain a strong presence in the state



Read more: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/news/article.aspx?Feed=PR&Date=20101209&ID=12497044&Symbol=F

[me b zola]

1. Is Kentucky a "right to work" state

meaning this will be a scab factory?

[blue_onyx]

4. no, it's not

[SKKY]

10. Nope. Kentucky is very pro-union...

....my father is a retired Pipefitter. This is good news indeed!

[me b zola]

13. I'm very glad to hear that

Good news indeed!

[and-justice-for-all]

2. Stimulus funding? nt

[NorthCarolina]

3. Ford did not take any bailout funding, however they did receive 62.7 million for

production of drive components for electric vehicles, and another 30 million to help accelerate the development of PHEV's and EV's in partnership with US leading utility companies. GM on the other hand received bailout funds, plus received 245.9 million in stimulus funds; Chrysler, bailout funding plus 70 million in stimulus $$.

[bossy22]

5. so much negativity....

this is good news...1800 more americans will now have jobs in the future because of this- thats the bottom line

[AndyTiedye]

6. Post Kicked and Recommended, and So is the Car

:kick: Recommending both the post and the car. I have a 2004 Escape Hybrid. Union-made in the USA.

Ford's success here is proof that unions, and the UAW in particular, are NOT the problem with the auto industry.
Stupid head-stuck-in-the-gas-guzzling-past management is.

Ford was doing this:

2004 Ford Escape Hybrid

while GM was doing this:

GM made sure to send all the EV1 electric cars it built to the crusher.

[blue_onyx]

7. So...

Where's the Ford Ranger EV that was produced to meet the California's zero-admission law? Funny how only GM gets criticism for something the other auto companies did too.

[AndyTiedye]

8. GM Did it Very Publicly, and Bet Everything on Gas Guzzlers like the Hummer

GM must have done a good job on the EV1, because the people who had them really loved them.
Yet, GM would neither renew their leases nor sell the cars to them at the end of the lease.
Instead, they took them back and sent them to the crusher, which infuriated some of their
best, most satisfied, and wealthiest customers. The whole thing was a public relations
disaster for GM, establishing them in the eyes of much of the public as a corporate dinosaur,

GM they didn't care, they'd killed CARB, and we were going into Iraq.
Gas was gonna be cheap forever. Cheney told them so himself at that energy taskforce meeting.
(I made that last sentence up, or did i? It certainly could be true).
Anyway, they didn't want green customers, they wanted people to buy Hummers!

Ford and Toyota also ended their EV programs, but they did so quietly.
Toyota was already selling the Prius by then, and Ford was developing its own hybrid.

Whatever they thought they knew about the future price of gas,
they did at least have the common sense not to bet the company on it.

[blue_onyx]

9. Nonsense

People made a big deal about GM and gave other auto companies a pass. Most of the Ford and Toyota EVs were also destroyed.

"Approximately 1500 all-electric RAV4s were built from 1997 to 2003, which offered a top speed of 80 mph and a range of nearly 100 miles. The full recharge time was 5 hours, and the MSRP at the time was $42,000. Although 1500 RAV4 EVs were built, only about 328 were sold, with the remaining vehicles being destroyed as they came off their leases."

http://www.trucktrend.com/features/news/2009/163_news090424_toyota_rav4_hybrid_suv/index.html

"While most of the 1,500 vehicles produced have been destroyed, a number of Ranger EVs have been parted out for spares and the remaining several hundred units have been refurbished"

http://www.articlefield.com/69935/ford-ranger-ev-fine-brick-texture-manufacturer-pvc-accessory-system/

So no, GM didn't do anything different. All the auto companies destroyed EVs after the zero-emission standard went away. It's people's anti-GM bias that's trying to make GM into this evil corporation and others like Ford and Toyota into these socially responsible citizens. Corporation are corporation....they all care about one thing and that's making money.

BTW, Ford and Toyota make vehicles that are just as inefficient as the Hummer. But hey...don't let facts get in the way.

[AndyTiedye]

12. Thank You for Providing the Additional Information…

…though it would seem to confirm what I was saying.

People made a big deal about GM and gave other auto companies a pass. Most of the Ford and Toyota EVs were also destroyed.

But it did not turn into a big public-relations disaster for them because...

"Approximately 1500 all-electric RAV4s were built from 1997 to 2003, which offered a top speed of 80 mph and a range of nearly 100 miles. The full recharge time was 5 hours, and the MSRP at the time was $42,000. Although 1500 RAV4 EVs were built, only about 328 were sold, with the remaining vehicles being destroyed as they came off their leases."

http://www.trucktrend.com/features/news/2009/163_news09...

So they did have the option of buying their vehicles at the end of the lease. EV1 lessors did not. That is why it turned into such a PR disaster for GM.

"While most of the 1,500 vehicles produced have been destroyed, a number of Ranger EVs have been parted out for spares and the remaining several hundred units have been refurbished"

http://www.articlefield.com/69935/ford-ranger-ev-fine-b...

According to wikipedia, they also had the option to buy at the end of the lease.

So no, GM didn't do anything different.

But they did! They built a much better EV than either Ford or Toyota. Built it from the ground up as an EV, while the others just shoved batteries and an electric motor into an existing truck and light SUV.
They showed us what they are capable of, then they snatched it away, :cry: never built anything like it again, and tried to sell us Hummers instead. :grr:

All the auto companies destroyed EVs after the zero-emission standard went away. It's people's anti-GM bias that's trying to make GM into this evil corporation and others like Ford and Toyota into these socially responsible citizens. Corporation are corporation....they all care about one thing and that's making money.

Something that GM has been so spectacularly unsuccessful at that they have required a massive bailout.
GM's management blames their union contracts and pension obligations.
Many people seem to believe that, even here on DU.

The comparison of Ford and GM is meant to refute such claims.

[blue_onyx]

14. No, they did the same thing

Ford and Toyota saw the public anger and gave in by allowing a small percentage of people to buy their vehicle. Doesn't change the fact that they did the same thing. It became a public relations problem for GM because some guy did very biased "documentary" that focused on one company rather than the industry.

Regarding your Hummer comment:

Hummer: 14/18
Ford Expedition: 14/20
Toyota Sequoia: 14/19

Once again, criticizing only GM for something all auto companies do. That's "fair and balanced."

[flvegan]

11. Error: you can only recommend threads which were started in the past 24 hours

Recommended anyway. Nice to see some good news around here. Bravo Ford, and congrats Louisville!

[Roland99]

15. LAP was almost going to be a ghost town. Glad to see it's going to continue being vital.

Spent many a day out there early in my career working on various computer systems.

[lutefisk]

16. Good for Ford for not sending more of its production to Mexico! . . . n/t

[closeupready]

17. Good on Ford!

:)