Wayne (WWJ) -- Ford will invest 75-million dollars into the Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne to prepare for small-car production. The announcement was made Tuesday morning.
In November, workers will begin converting the body shop at Michigan Truck to a car plant that will begin producing global C-car based vehicles in 2010.
The SUV's currently made at Michigan Truck will be made in Kentucky.
"This is the best plan to meet consumer demand and utilize our assets at Michigan Truck and other facilities, both in the near term and long term," said Joe Hinrichs, Ford group vice president, Global Manufacturing and Labor Affairs in a statement.
"Consumers will benefit through increased production of the strong-selling Focus at Wayne, the continuation of the popular Expedition and Navigator for those who need a large SUV at Kentucky Truck, and more world-class C-cars at Michigan Truck."
During the conversion, the one-thousand employees at Wayne Truck will be transferred next door to the Wayne Assembly Plant where a third crew will be added in January to accommodate increased production of the hot-selling Ford Focus.
Michigan Truck is one of three truck and SUV plants in North America that will be converted to build small fuel-efficient compact and subcompact vehicles.
In 2010, Cuautitlan Assembly, which currently produces F-Series pickups, will begin building the new Fiesta subcompact car for North America.
Louisville Assembly, home of the Ford Explorer mid-size SUV, is slated to start production of yet more unique small vehicles from the automaker's global C-car platform the following year.
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