Ford Motor Company will be expanding its presence in Louisville to the tune of 500 full-time jobs and $700 million in investment ahead of its rollout of the all-new Ford F-Series Super Duty truck, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Tuesday.
“The partnership between Kentucky and Ford goes back more than a century and is only becoming stronger,” Gov. Beshear said. “Today’s announcement is one of the largest investments ever in Jefferson County and will create hundreds of great jobs, including building the 2023 Ford F-Series Super Duty truck. Together with last year’s record-shattering electric vehicle battery plant announcement, Ford is building its future here in the commonwealth. We couldn’t be more proud and look forward to many more decades of success for this iconic American company here in Kentucky.”
With more than 12,000 people employed across its two Louisville facilities, Ford supports nearly 120,000 direct and indirect jobs in the state and a state GDP contribution of $11.8 billion.
“Ford is America’s No. 1 employer of hourly autoworkers, and our workforce in Kentucky makes some of the country’s most popular vehicles, including the F-Series Super Duty for both retail and Ford Pro commercial customers,” said Kumar Galhotra, president, Ford Blue. “Ford has been growing in Kentucky since the days of the Model T, and we are continuing to invest in the Bluegrass State to produce great vehicles that our customers love and depend on.”
The Ford F-Series Super Duty is built at Kentucky Truck Plant alongside the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator in Louisville, while the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair are built at the nearby Louisville Assembly Plant.
Tuesday’s unveiling comes on the one-year anniversary of Ford and SK Innovation’s historic announcement to invest $5.8 billion in Hardin County for EV battery production, which is expected to bring 5,000 new jobs to the region.
The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) on Tuesday approved a supplemental project to an existing Kentucky Jobs Retention Act (KJRA) program agreement with Ford to encourage the investment and job retention in the community.
The performance-based agreement can provide up to $430 million in cumulative tax incentives based on the company’s total cumulative investment of $3.65 billion across the original and supplemental KJRA projects with an annual job target requirement of up to 12,500 over the term of the agreement.
Stay tuned to the Bottom Line for more updates.