Facing a wave of festivals for its new battery-powered F-150 pickup truck, Ford Motor Co. , has unveiled the high-tech plant that will produce the autonomous electric truck sleds and robots that run with human workers.
The plant will be installed inside the 92-year-old Red Ford complex in Dearborn, Michigan, and will be “the most complex facility we have in the world,” production director Gary Johnson told reporters at a briefing Wednesday. trucks from one station to another, while the robots will gather the vehicles. The plant is expected to be completed next summer and the structure of the electric F-150 prototypes begins.
Ford is spending $700 million to reform its Red complex, as it leads an orderly war into decades of dominance in the van segment. It has already begun building a redesigned edition of its F-150 gasoline, the company’s largest cash producer. Approximately 900,000 F-Series pickup trucks last year, Ford is catching up on the latest editions of its main competitors: the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV Ram and General Motors Co’s Chevrolet Silverado.
The second-largest automaker in the U. S. is the largest car manufacturer in the U. S. But it’s not the first time You will also claim a truly extensive claim in the emerging electric truck market, which has noticed a wave of new entrants, adding Cybertruck from Tesla Inc. , R1T from Rivian Automotive Inc. and Nikola Corp. Badger.
Ford shares rose 3. 7% in New York on Thursday.
Ford said his electric pickup, which is expected to go on sale in 2022, will be the fastest and toughest pickup he’s ever produced. cell generator capable of powering a structure or the driver’s house.
Ford has invested more than a billion dollars in one of those new rivals: Rivian. The automaker is jointly creating an electric vehicle with the startup founded through R. J. Mr. Scaringe.
“We like RJet what it does because it represents products, wonderful products, commerce and retail,” Jim Farley, lead chief operating officer and leading long-term executive, told reporters after introducing the new F-150 on Thursday. “But our appointments are much broader. Do not consider it a transactional appointment for a vehicle. It’s a strategic investment. “
Automotive studies revealed “very high demand” that “focused on customer work,” Kumar Galhotra, Ford’s president for America and foreign markets, said Wednesday. “All we had to do was invest in the product and the factory. “
The new 500,000-square-foot media for Rouge electric vehicles will create three hundred new jobs and produce a hybrid gasoline and electricity edition of the F-150 that will go on sale before the electric truck.
The two electrified models constitute the long-term F-series, according to the automobile manufacturer.
“This gives Red a long-term vision with new technologies and battery power products with our ultimate vehicle,” Johnson said.