Ford will spend $100M and add jobs at Kansas City factory to make new electric vehicle
Ford Motor Co. will spend $100 million to upgrade the Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo to build the company’s new E-Transit van.
The Detroit-based company said the new electric van line will create 150 additional full-time jobs at the factory, which is the largest manufacturing center in the Kansas City area. The Claycomo plant employs 7,250 workers and produces more vehicles than any other Ford factory on the continent.
The plant makes the Transit van, which is popular in commercial fleets and the F-150, America’s most popular truck. The addition of the E-Transit line follows the plant’s retooling to produce the fully redesigned 2021 F-150 model, which Ford executives showed off last month.
Ford says it will unveil the new E-Transit van on Thursday. It should hit the market in late 2021.
The automaker says the move is part of a wider effort to transition its most popular vehicles to electric. The company is also producing an all-electric F-150 in Michigan and the electric Mustang Mach-E in Mexico.
“We’re taking our most iconic vehicles and using fully electric technology to deliver even more performance, productivity and capability for customers,” Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford’s Americas and international markets group, said in a news release. “We are building out the North American manufacturing footprint to support this growth. This is just the first chapter with more new electric vehicles and more investment to come.”
Ford is among two major automakers with factories in the Kansas City area: Across the state line, General Motors makes the Chevy Malibu sedan and the Cadillac XT4 crossover SUV at the Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas City, Kansas.
