AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)07/23 Report--

On July 22nd, Ford announced that it would invest $50 million to upgrade a plant in Chicago and employ 450 full-time workers to address the assembly capacity of its hybrid SUV and police models.

Ford has two factories in Chicago, including an assembly plant and a stamping plant. Its assembly plant, which has been in operation since the production of the Model T in 1924, has a history of 95 years and is Ford's longest-running plant in the United States. The upgraded factory, which was originally used to retrofit police vehicles, will start assembling hybrid versions of Ford Explorer SUV and Lincoln Aviator Grand Touring SUV in the second half of this year, as well as assembling Ford police models. The original production work of the factory will be transferred to nearby production facilities, and the new production arrangements will come into effect in the fourth quarter of this year.

It is worth noting that on July 19 this year, Ford just laid off 200 employees at its Oakville plant in Ontario, Canada. The official explanation given by Ford is that in the general downturn of the car market this year, car sales are declining, and normal car production has caused Ford to have too much inventory, putting too much pressure on dealers. In order to slow the production of cars and reduce expenses, Ford made the decision to lay off the factory.

Shortly after the layoffs in the car factory, Ford immediately invested heavily in upgrading the plant to assemble the SUV, which also shows that the SUV is more popular with consumers than traditional cars. It is reported that in order to save money, Ford may further expand the scale of layoffs in January next year. In the future, in order to cater to consumer preferences, Ford will continue to increase its investment in pickups and SUV.

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