Ford also plans to spend $1.5 billion and create 1,800 jobs at its Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake to expand the operation for production of a commercial EV that will launch mid-decade. It will add 90 jobs and a $100 million investment between its Lima Engine and Sharonville Transmission plants, also in Ohio.
It is investing $95 million and creating 1,100 jobs at a Kansas City assembly plant in Missouri, adding a third shift to boost production of both the gasoline-powered Transit van and the battery-powered E-Transit van. The automaker declined to say by how much Transit or E-Transit output would be increased by the addition of a shift.
Separately, Ford said it plans to transition an additional 3,000 temporary UAW workers into full-time status ahead of a schedule negotiated in its current labor contract with the union.
Ford further plans to invest $1 billion over five years across all facilities in the U.S. to “improve the workplace environment” with initiatives such as more healthy foods, better security and dedicated EV charging stations in plant parking lots.
Ford said the newly transitioned full-time union workers would receive full health care benefits on day one, a change from how the union’s contract is currently structured.
“Ford is America’s No. 1 employer of hourly autoworkers, and this investment only deepens our commitment to building great new vehicles — from an all-new Mustang to new EVs — right here in the U.S. in partnership with the UAW,” Bill Ford, executive chair of Ford, said in a statement. “I am proud that we are investing in the Midwest and taking real action to provide better benefits and working conditions for our workers on the plant floor.”
