Ford Motor Co and SK Innovation, the Korean battery maker company, will invest $ 11.4 billion to build an electric F-150 production plant and three battery plants in the US.
The factories will be the base on which it will base its intentions to disburse $ 30 billion before 2026 for the production of electric cars.
The goal for the next decade is ambitious: that four out of 10 vehicles sold in 2030 have this kind of driver.
In the announcement, made this Tuesday, September 28 in Seoul, South Korea, Ford expanded that intention to electrify up to “between 40 and 50 percent” of its global sales.
The disbursement will be made in conjunction with SK Innovations, a company that will contribute 4.4 billion dollars of the total and that will become a strategic partner of Ford.
One of the new factories will be in the city of Stanton, Tennessee. It will be called “Blue Oval City.” There, 5.6 billion dollars will be invested and 6,000 workers dedicated to the production of F-150 pickups and others of the same line will be hired. In addition, batteries will be manufactured.
In addition, the “Blue Oval SK Battery Park” will be built in Glendale, Kentucky, where $ 5.8 billion will be injected into three plants and there will be 5,000 employees.
Batteries for the new generation of Ford and Lincoln cars will be produced there.
Both will be working 100% within three years.
Ford’s announcement marks the largest production investment in its nearly 120-year life.
The Tennessee complex will be roughly three times the size of Ford’s classic Rouge complex in Dearborn, Michigan. Reuters.
SK also supplies batteries to Hyundai Motor, among other companies. And it has production in the United States, in Eastern Europe, China and in its country of origin, South Korea.
With the expansion of its production in the US, SK will become a giant in the sector with an annual capacity of 150 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of batteries, only in the country that Joe Biden governs.
Shares of SK and Ford soared in the premarket. Shares of SK Innovation rose 3.5 percent and Ford, 2.8 percent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NamCp0-KkOs
In parallel, Ford announced a few weeks ago that it would abandon its production in India, where it manufactures five models: Figo, Aspire, Freestyle, EcoSport and Endeavor.
Before, it had closed its plant in Brazil.
Since the closure of the factories will not be immediate, the question is what will happen to the only two models imported into Mexico from India. Figo, the most economical sedan, will remain available for all of 2021; while EcoSport will remain on sale until next year.