Ford to revamp Kentucky plant

Ford Motor Co. said it will spend $600 million to convert its Louisville Assembly Plant to build its revamped Escape small sport-utility vehicle starting late next year, a move expected to prompt the hiring of hundreds of workers.

The factory is the third Ford truck plant that is being re-tooled to build small vehicles using the same architecture for the auto maker's cars and trucks around the world. Louisville Assembly had been building the Ford Explorer SUV since 1989, but that production is moving to its Chicago plant.

When the Louisville plant restarts production in 2011, it will operate on two shifts with approximately 2,900 employees. That's up from the single shift that employs about 1,100 today.

The 1,800 additional jobs are expected to be filled by transferring employees from other facilities, re-activating workers on indefinite layoff at the time of launch and hiring new workers. Ford officials declined to provide an estimated breakdown, including an estimated number of new hires.

With new, more flexible manufacturing, Louisville Assembly is expected to be able to build up to six different vehicles at the same time, according to Ford.

Kentucky and Louisville pledged up to $240 million in tax incentives over the next 10 years for current and possible future investments and jobs at the Louisville Assembly Plant and Ford's Kentucky Truck Plant, company officials said.

Kentucky's incentives are based on Ford's investment of $600 million for Louisville Assembly and the previously invested $200 million for Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUV production at Kentucky Truck Plant.