Ford invests $135 million for electric vehicle development at two Michigan sites

[wtmusic]

"Ford Motor Company has announced plans to invest $135 million into two of its Detroit-area plants, creating what the company calls a "center of excellence" for electric vehicles (EVs). The investment will be divided between the company's transaxle plant in Sterling Heights, MI and its Ypsilanti battery plant. Combined, Ford says, 220 new jobs will be created including 130 at the transaxle plant, 40 at the battery facility and 50 engineers to be split between the two sites.

Ford hopes that the new investments will allow the company to produce the majority of components needed for EVs in-house, thus eliminating the need to source transaxles from Japan and batteries from Mexico. The company plans to introduce five new hybrid or electric vehicles in North America within the next two years. By shifting production of components in-house, Ford will likely reduce costs, alleviate supply issues and have the ability to offer buyers a competitively priced product."

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/05/25/ford-invests-135-million-for-electric-vehicle-development-at-tw/

The next-gen Ford Focus is IMO the best-looking electric offered by any major manufacturer (Tesla not included). Car designers nowadays are often brought in on a project-by-project basis, and for the Focus Ford looked to German-based Briton Martin Smith.



Smith honed his design skills as a twenty-something at Porsche in the 70s, and describes his philosphy as follows:

Kinetic design is something we can actually describe. The key elements are confident stance, dynamic lines, expressive form language, taut surfacing, bold graphics and great detailing. Together they convey movement and athleticism, and they telegraph the dynamic capabilities of our cars with that fun-to-drive spirit. It looks like the car is moving when it’s standing still.

http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=31763

[NBachers]

1. Wow. I like seeing all those Michigan locations named here

ex-Kalamazoo resident here.

Believe it or not, when I lived there, Kalamazoo was a pretty hip and politically aware little city.

[wtmusic]

2. It would be great to see Ford as a leader in revitalizing Detroit

William Ford (Henry's great grandson) has Henry's drive as well as his trailblazing spirit.

[jtrockville]

3. I'd LOVE to see Detriot become "The Motor City" again!

Good on Ford!

[earth mom]

4. K & R! Hope they don't end up killing it like GM did. nt

[wtmusic]

5. In fairness, Ford did the same with their Th!nk

at about the same time (2002). Although I'm not particularly vulnerable to conspiracy theories, denying there was any collusion or involvement of the oil industry is just a bit too convenient.

"A major controversy erupted when Ford decided to crush TH!NK City cars in the U.S. when each vehicle's lease expired. After protesting by environmentalist groups, including a Greenpeace rally on the roof of Ford's Norway offices, Ford decided to ship the excess vehicles to Norway."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_TH!NK

[MelissaB]

6. A big K&R for Michigan!

:kick: