Ford Invests $850 Million in MI Auto Plants

Ford has announced it will invest a combined $850 million in Michigan between 2011 and 2013 to upgrade manufacturing of fuel-efficient vehicles. The investment will add up to 1,200 new jobs.

Two automotive plants in Sterling Heights, MI will get combined $150 million in investment under a package of incentives deals approved this week by the Michigan Economic Growth Authority. Sterling Heights City Manager Mark Vanderpool told Crains Detroit the automaker would invest $100 million at the Van Dyke Transmission facility and $50 million at the Sterling Axle Plant. The two plants collectively employ almost 3,200 people.

“The transmission plant we understand is the center of their global, six-speed transmission initiative (for Ford). And the six-speed investment is across a variety of models, so we gather the work it generates will be pretty diversified,” Vanderpool said. “This is very good news for Sterling Heights, since the city alone has round 10,000 automotive related employees.”

“Fuel economy and technology are consumers’ biggest priorities—and we have made them Ford’s as well,” Mark Fields, Ford’s president of The Americas, said in a statement Monday. “We are pleased to work with state and local government leaders to find new ways to work together, invest in our people as well as Ford facilities, further improve our competitiveness and secure jobs in Michigan.”