TONIGHT. SHAWN LEY LOCAL 4 BACK TO YOU JUST UNBELIEVABLY SAD. ALRIGHT, SEAN, THANKS. FORD
MOTOR COMPANY TODAY ANNOUNCING
ONE OF THE BIGGEST INVESTMENTS
BY AN AUTOMAKER IN RECENT MEMORY
, FORD PLANS TO PUMP $3.7
BILLION INTO MICHIGAN, OHIO AND
MISSOURI. THAT WILL CREATE 6200
NEW HOURLY UNION JOBS ACROSS
THOSE THREE STATES. MICHIGAN
WILL GET 3200 OF THOSE JOBS.
ADDITIONALLY NEARLY 3000 WORKERS
WILL GO FROM TEMPORARY STATUS TO
FULL TIME WITH FULL BENEFITS AND
PAY RAISES. THE INVESTMENT WILL
BOOST SEVERAL FACTORIES IN OUR
AREA. AND OF THE NEW JOBS AROUND
2000 WILL BE SPREAD ACROSS THREE
LOCAL PLANTS, MICHIGAN ASSEMBLY
AND WAYNE, WHICH MAKES THE ALL
NEW RANGER, THE ROUGE ELECTRIC
VEHICLE CENTER IN DEARBORN,
WHICH MAKES THE F 1 50
LIGHTNING. AND FLAT ROCK
ASSEMBLY, WHICH MAKES THE ALL
NEW MUSTANG. WELL, THAT MAJOR
INVESTMENT ALSO MEANS BIG THINGS
FOR WHAT COMES NEXT FOR ELECTRIC
VEHICLES ARE GRANT HERMES JOINS
US NOW IN GREAT YOU TALKED WITH
AN EXPERT TODAY WHO SAYS THIS IS
REALLY ONLY THE BEGINNING HERE.
HEY, CAROL. YET THIS IS JUST THE
BEGINNING. THERE’S SO MUCH ROOM
TO GROW WHEN IT COMES TO
ELECTRIC VEHICLES, WHICH IS
SOMETHING THAT WE’VE KNOWN FOR A
LONG TIME. BUT THIS INVESTMENT
BY FORD IS A HUGE DEVELOPMENT IN
THE RACE TO SEE WHICH COMPANY IS
GOING TO CORNER THE MARKET ON
THESE DVDS. FORWARDS RECENT
INVESTMENT IS THE LATEST MOVE TO
TAKE THE LEAD IN THE RACE OVER
ELECTRIC VEHICLES BETWEEN THE
BIG THREE. IT’S BEEN MOSTLY GM
AND FORD GM SPENDING SEVEN
BILLION ON A NEW BATTERY PLANT
AND PRODUCTION OF THE V ONLY
FACTORY ZERO IN HAMTRAMCK. WITH
TODAY’S ANNOUNCEMENT. FORD
PUSHING TO PRODUCE 150,000 NEW
ELECTRIC F ONE FIFTIES EACH
YEAR. AT DEARBORN’S RIVER ROUGE
PLANT WITH THE LOFTY GOAL OF
PRODUCING TWO MILLION TVS A YEAR
TO LANTUS, FORMERLY FIAT.
CHRYSLER HAS LAGGED BEHIND
SETTING A NINE YEAR PLAN BACK IN
MARCH TO PLAY CATCH UP. RIGHT
NOW, THE MARKET SEEMS NEARLY
ENDLESS. QUICKIE IS THE DIRECTOR
OF RESEARCH FOR THE CENTER OF
AUTOMOTIVE RESEARCH BASED IN
MICHIGAN MAKERS COULD SELL MORE
IF THEY HAD MORE PRODUCTS TO
SELL, AND SO THERE IS A RACE TO
FILL THIS GAP. AND YOU KNOW,
FRANKLY, TO ME. THE REAL WINNER
OF THE RACE IS THE STATE OF
MICHIGAN. BUT THERE ARE STILL
HURDLES LIKE OVERHAULING BOTH
ASSEMBLY PLANTS AND RETRAINING
WORKFORCES, WHILE OTHER
COMPANIES LIKE TESLA AND RIVIAN
HAD BEEN ABLE TO BE MORE NIMBLE,
WE THINK THIS YEAR IS KIND OF
THAT WATERSHED MOMENT WHERE NEXT
YEAR AND GOING FORWARD, THE
TRADITIONAL AUTOMAKERS ARE
SWITCHING OVER TO ELECTRIC. AT
SUCH A HIGH RATE THAT THEY WILL
OUT PRODUCE ALL OF THE NEWCOMERS
COMBINED AUTOMAKERS BATTLING IT
OUT OVER BATTERY POWER. SEMINARS
SAYS KEEP AN EYE ON SLANTED AS
WELL. THEY’VE JUST BEEN PUT
INVESTMENTS INTO TWO NEW BATTERY
PLANTS. JUST NOT IN MICHIGAN.
AND BATTERIES, HE SAYS, IS WHERE
THIS RACE IS GOING TO BE WON OR
LOST ANOTHER THING ON THE
HORIZON HERE AND EXPECTED PRICE
DROP FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES,
GENERAL MOTORS, SAYING IT’LL BE
SLASHING THE PRICE FOR THE CHEVY
BOLT IN THE COMING YEAR AND FORD
SAY THEY EXPECTED PRICE DROP AS
WELL AS THEY SHIPPED ALL OF
THEIR ELECTRIC VEHICLE SALES
ONLINE ONLY PRICE NON NEGOTIABLE
BACK TO YOU ONLINE ONLY PRICE
NON NEGOTIABLE. HOW IS THAT
GOING TO WORK? BECAUSE I THINK
MOST PEOPLE EXPECT TO BE ABLE TO
GO IN AND MAKE A DEAL WITH THE
DEALERSHIP KIND OF HAGGLE A
LITTLE BIT WHEN YOU GO BUY A
CAR. I THOUGHT THAT MIGHT GET
YOUR ATTENTION THERE CAN RELEASE
SO LAST WEEK OR OTHER EARLIER
THIS WEEK, FORD CEO JIM FARLEY
SAYING AT AN ECONOMIC TALK THAT
THEY PLAN TO MAKE THIS SHIFT
VERY SOON. 100% ONLINE MEANS NO
PRICE HAGGLING, NO SALESPERSON,
NOT EVEN GOING TO THE DEALERSHIP
TO TEST DRIVE THE VEHICLE JUST
ORDERED ONLINE. IT WILL BE RIGHT
FROM THE FACTORY. RIGHT TO YOUR
DOOR THERE TRYING TO KEEP UP
WITH SOME OF THE OTHER PLACES
LIKE CARBONNEAU, BUT WE’LL SEE
HOW CAR BUYERS ENDED.
DEALERSHIPS RESPOND TO THIS NEWS
WILL DEFINITELY KEEP WATCHING.
WE’LL BE FOLLOWING IT INDEED.
OKAY GRANT. THANK YOU SO MUCH.
AND TOMORROW MORNING AT 6 40.
WE’LL HEAR MORE ABOUT FORD’S BIG
INVESTMENT IN A LIVE INTERVIEW
WITH JOHN SAVONA. HE IS THE MAN