Ford has announced it will be investing $135 million in Michigan, creating 220 so-called “green collar jobs” in the Detroit area. The new jobs will include 130 at a transaxle manufacturing plant, 40 at a battery plant and 50 electrical engineering positions.
At an event at Ford's new Ypsilanti battery plant, executive vice president Mark Fields said that the new money would turn the plant into a “center for excellence in vehicle electrification.” At the same event, Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm said that she hopes this is just the tip of an iceberg and that Ford will continue to transform the state's all-but-disappeared manufacturing sector from the "Rust Belt to the Green Belt."
Ford will be releasing a lineup of five new fully electric or hybrid-electric vehicles in North America, including the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid, the Ford Focus EV, the Transit Connect Electric, and a pair of next-generation hybrids by 2013. The company says it will endeavor to keep manufacturing for its lineup of fuel efficient vehicles in-house and inside the United States wherever possible.
@chrishillesland To put it in perspective, Nissan/Renault is spending $5.5 Billion dollars or about 40 times more.
Ford spent about $3.2 Billion in total R&D in 2010. They expect it to go to more than $5 Billion in 2011.
Call me unimpressed.