LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Ford Motor Co. has said it will invest $600 million to transform its Louisville Assembly Plant into a modern, flexible facility to build the next-generation Escape for the North American market starting late next year.  

The plant is the third North American body-on-frame truck plant that Ford is re-tooling to enable production of fuel-efficient products from its global vehicle platforms. Louisville Assembly has been building the Ford Explorer SUV since 1989.

Ford moved production of the all-new 2011 Explorer to Chicago Assembly and is overhauling the Louisville facility to build the next-generation Escape and providing future manufacturing flexibility.  

When the transformed Louisville Assembly Plant restarts production in 2011, it will operate on two shifts with approximately 2,900 employees – up from today's one shift and approximately 1,100 employees. The 1,800 additional jobs are expected to be filled through a combination of transferring employees from other facilities, re-activating workers on indefinite layoff at the time of launch and hiring new workers.  

"Our Louisville Assembly Plant transformation further proves our commitment to American manufacturing and our commitment to deliver the high-quality, fuel-efficient vehicles people really want," said Mark Fields, Ford's president of The Americas. "Working closely with the UAW and Kentucky officials, we have found a way to competitively deliver an important new vehicle that is good for our customers and supports our plan to deliver a well-balanced product portfolio of cars, trucks and utilities."

Ford says it will reveal its future direction for the next-generation Escape through a concept vehicle debuting at the North American International Auto Show in January.

Later in the year, the plant will reopen with tooling and facility upgrades in its final assembly area and body shop. Reprogrammable tooling in the body shop will allow the plant to produce multiple vehicle models at the same time without requiring downtime for tooling changeover – making Louisville Assembly Plant Ford's most flexible high-volume plant in the world.  

With this new technology, Louisville Assembly can build up to six different vehicles at the same time, allowing Ford to meet demand more quickly in the event of potential shifting customer preferences dictated by changing economic conditions.

"Manufacturing flexibility is a key to competitiveness, and we are continually exploring ways to raise the bar in this critical area of the business," said Jim Tetreault, Ford's vice president of North America Manufacturing. "While we are launching Louisville Assembly Plant with one key product – the next-generation Ford Escape – we are building in the flexibility to produce other vehicles at the plant in the future, depending upon volume requirements, customer preferences and other factors that affect vehicle demand."

Ford's state and local partners have committed up to $240 million in tax incentives during the next 10 years, based on current and potential future investments and job creation at the company's two Kentucky facilities – Louisville Assembly Plant and Kentucky Truck Plant.

Kentucky's incentives are based upon an initial combined Ford investment at both facilities of about $800 million – the $600 million for Louisville Assembly transformation and the previously invested $200 million for accommodating Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator production at Kentucky Truck Plant.  The incentive also allows for additional investment in the future.

Ford's investment of $600 million in Louisville Assembly Plant also is supported by the company's green partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy. The plant is one of 11 Ford facilities in the U.S. participating in the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentives Program initiated by Congress and implemented by the Obama administration.