DEARBORN, Mich. (WXYZ) — Ford is putting on two shows next week with big stars. The first show on Tuesday will include President Joe Biden touring the iconic Rouge Plant in Dearborn that is being expanded to make a new Ford F-150 Lightning EV pickup.
The second show will be for that vehicle the night after on Wednesday outside of the Ford World Headquarters. The south side of the “Glass House” has been covered to turn it into a big drive-in-style movie screen.
“It’s truly an honor to have President Biden come to Ford Motor Company and have us give him a preview of the all-new F-150 Lightning and all the advanced technologies we will offer to our customers,” Jasen Turnbull, Ford F-150 Lightning Marketing Manager tells 7 Action News.
The Rouge plant has been building Ford vehicles for decades. The expansion is set to be done at the end of this year at a cost of $700 million. Ford will add 300 jobs with the new production.
“We have so much history in that location. And make no mistake, this truck will be American-made by UAW workers at the historic Rouge Complex in Dearborn, Michigan. And we’re very to go toward launch,” Turnbull said.
President Biden is expected to pitch his $2 trillion infrastructure plan that is pending in Congress. The President wants to spend $174 billion to make the US the world leader in EV production and expand the infrastructure to support it.
During the Wednesday night show, people who helped design the new EV will be featured. Only 2% of Americans own EVs now.
Turnbull tells 7 Action News, “So, what we do know is we have a huge customer pool that raised their hand and said we want to go electric for my next truck. We expect to grow over time our electric vehicle volume.”
The Ford F-150 Lightning will be available mid-2020.
This is President Biden’s second trip to Michigan. He was at the Pfizer plant near Kalamazoo for the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine earlier this year.
