Ford to Invest $135 Million, Add 220 Jobs in Michigan in Electric-Car Push

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Ford Invests $135 Million, Adds 220 Electric-Car Jobs (Update4)
By Keith Naughton


May 24 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co., working to make a quarter of its vehicles run at least partly on electricity, plans to invest $135 million and add 220 jobs at three Michigan facilities to help it introduce five such models by 2012.

About 50 engineers will be hired for a research and development center to be created in the Detroit area, John Stoll, a Ford spokesman, said today in an interview. Ford plans to add 170 production workers at two Michigan plants, he said.

Ford has said it will begin selling two electric vehicles and three new hybrids by 2012 and that such models will constitute 10 percent to 25 percent of its worldwide fleet in a decade. Automakers are developing models powered entirely or in part by electricity to meet U.S. fuel-economy standards.

“Ford has been at the forefront of layering this new technology into their vehicles,” Michael Robinet, an auto- industry analyst with CSM Worldwide in Northville, Michigan, said in a telephone interview. “It’s been an incremental strategy, but one that’s well thought-out and bodes well for their future.”

Ford fell 25 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $11.01 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have gained 10 percent this year. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=agJtom2dNNTM&pos=7