Yesterday, Ford Motor announced plans to build a new $1 billion state-of-the-art paint shop at its Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville as part of a modernization effort at one of Ford’s most important manufacturing operations. Groundbreaking is scheduled for late 2026. The new shop will replace the existing paint operation at Ford’s largest and highest-revenue U.S. manufacturing plant that sees a vehicle roll off the assembly line every 45 seconds.
Ford has been on a spending frenzy in the U.S., including some $2 billion earmarked to turn the Louisville Assembly Plant into a new manufacturing center for its new Universal Electric Vehicle Platform and another $2 billion at Ford Energy Systems in Glendale, which will make battery energy storage systems.
The announcement came just two days after Ford was “blindsided” by a letter from U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, according to the Detroit Free Press. The letter was critical of Ford’s dealings with Chinese companies. Duffy also suggested that the company’s Lincoln Nautilus reshoring initiative, slated for 2030, should happen faster. Ford’s chief policy officer told the Free Press the letter “is not in keeping with the very positive rapport we have with the White House.”
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