<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/green/" rel="tag">Green</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/plants-manufacturing/" rel="tag">Plants/Manufacturing</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/ford/" rel="tag">Ford</a></p><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="0" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/05/michiganassemblyplanttime.j_opt.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br />Ford has found a way to turn a lemon into lemonade. Its Michigan Truck Plant that formerly built the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator will be building something else entirely in the future: small cars and electric vehicles. Ford announced today it's investing $550 million in the plant to create a modern, efficient and flexible facility where the next-generation, North American version of the global Focus will be built, along with an all-electric version of the car. The next Focus will begin production here as soon as next year, while the EV version debuts in 2011. Ford's getting some help from state and local governments in the form of tax credits to switch the plant's purpose, but many are based on job retention targets that should mean all 3,200 people who work there now will continue to do so.<br /><br />The plant, which will now be called just Michigan Assembly Plant, shall soon be joined by two more plants that are switching from producing trucks and SUVs to small cars. Cuautitlan Assembly in Mexico has been chosen to build the new North American version of the Fiesta subcompact and Louisville Assembly, once the producer of Super Duty trucks, will be given another vehicle to build based on the global Focus platform. <br />[Source: Ford]<p><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2009/05/06/ford-spending-550m-to-switch-michigan-assembly-from-trucks-to-s/" rel="bookmark">Continue reading <em>Ford spending $550M to switch Michigan Assembly from trucks to small cars/EV</em></a></p><p style="padding:5px;background:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2009/05/06/ford-spending-550m-to-switch-michigan-assembly-from-trucks-to-s/">Ford spending $550M to switch Michigan Assembly from trucks to small cars/EV</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.autoblog.com">Autoblog</a> on Wed, 06 May 2009 10:31:00 EST. Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.</p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2009/05/06/ford-spending-550m-to-switch-michigan-assembly-from-trucks-to-s/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/forward/1538128/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2009/05/06/ford-spending-550m-to-switch-michigan-assembly-from-trucks-to-s/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>
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