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Photo courtesy of Yonhap News |
[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] Seoul, Korea – Ford Motor Company is set to enter the affordable electric vehicle (EV) market by investing $2 billion (approximately 2.8 trillion KRW) to convert its Louisville, Kentucky plant from an internal combustion engine vehicle production facility to an electric vehicle production plant. This move comes as Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers, such as BYD, intensify their low-cost EV offerings, prompting Ford to make a bold move in the market.
According to the Financial Times on the 11th (local time), Ford plans to invest $2 billion to transform the Louisville factory into an EV production hub. The company will use a "universal EV platform" at the new facility, reducing the number of parts by 20% and increasing production speed by 15%.
Ford's new plant will produce a mid-sized 4-door electric pickup truck starting at a base price of $30,000 (approximately 42 million KRW), with the model expected to be launched in 2027. The company aims to directly compete with low-cost electric vehicles from Chinese manufacturers like BYD. Currently, Ford's popular F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck starts at $55,000.
Ford CEO Jim Farley described the plan as "the moment of Model T," referring to the iconic vehicle that Henry Ford introduced in 1908, which revolutionized mass production and consumer access to automobiles through the assembly line system.
In addition to the Louisville plant investment, Ford had previously announced a $3 billion investment in a Michigan battery plant. Combined with the factory transformation, the total investment of $5 billion is expected to create or maintain approximately 4,000 jobs.
The new electric vehicles will be equipped with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which will not be imported from China. These batteries will be assembled and produced in Marshall, Michigan, with technical support from China's CATL.
알파경제 Paul Lee 특파원(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
