Our Ford Escape was just ranked number one in best-in-class out of all small compact SUVs by JD Power. Give it up.
All right. But today is about our future. I can't wait for you to hear what's coming. But to get us started, please welcome to the stage the athletic director from the University of Kentucky, Mitch Barnhard, and the athletic director at the University of Louisville, Josh Heird. Give it up.
Well, Mitch, this is my first time in an assembly plant here, especially one here at Ford. I'm assuming every Monday's like this.
Any Cat fans in the house? There we go. Love that. All right. I do have to point out I think we found the one Indiana fan here in the state of Kentucky.
There you go. Yeah. How about Cards fans? There we go.
Well, it's not very often we get to share the stage together, but have so much respect for Josh and what he has done and all the things that he does at Louisville. Mitch, I couldn't say I'd say the exact same thing. But before we talk about anything athletics related, let's talk about the 12,000 Ford employees here in the city of Louisville in the state of Kentucky. We know our state has been through some difficult times and all those things, but this is an unbelievable day of celebration to bring it back all together, be able to celebrate something really cool for Louisville and for the state of Kentucky and to have an opportunity to showcase to the country and to the world what this place means to us. So Mitch, you and I have been together long enough and I think we both know we're not the most exciting people up here on stage. So, why don't we get somebody up here who knows a little something about firing up a team? Let's go, guys. Coach, let me introduce head coach.
So, I'm the coach. I'm the motivator. I'm the hype guy. And I know one thing in this town, he's a really good friend of mine. You talk about somebody with some energy, a guy that makes coffee nervous like I do. How about our mayor Craig Greenberg? And I know Governor Beshear's coming here in a little bit. Good friend of mine. I met his son the other day. He can throw a 95 mph fastball and I'm proud to be his friend. The leadership he brings as well. Henry Ford once said, 'You can have any model, any color of Model T, as long as it's black.' So, how the heck did we come up with a blue one here? We need some red Model T's here. I want to echo real quick what Josh said. The 12,000 Ford employees in this state, the employees and the workers in this factory. You're the heartbeat of this town. You're the pride of this town. Let's give all these workers one big round of applause one more time. And last but not least, in a second, we're going to start a 30-second countdown that is going to start a video which is going to lead to an announcement that is one of the biggest in the history of this city and a huge one for this great organization as well. Hey, sorry I have to do this, Mitch. Go Cards.
It began with a radical idea to build a car for everyone. Offering unprecedented mobility at an unprecedented price. The Model T put the world on wheels. We pioneered the moving assembly line to make it easier to build and streamlined raw materials supplied to meet demand. It was a defining moment not just for Ford, but for a generation on the move. But it didn't come from a single Eureka moment. It was the quiet power of an engineering mindset, an unwavering drive for simplicity, radically fewer parts, a relentless focus on reducing weight, one chassis, many body styles. Car ownership became a reality for millions, creating a loop of affordability and access at a scale the world had never seen. And now, inspired by the Model T, another revolution is taking shape with the same transformative spirit. A platform founded on relentless efficiency, radical simplification, and flexibility. A vehicle assembled in a re-imagined factory with bold design, more space, endless configurability, and an entirely new digital experience. Priced for possibility, easy to own, low maintenance, and fun to drive. And it starts right here in Louisville, where for 70 years we've built with passion, craft, ingenuity, and care. From Kentucky to the world, a new chapter starts now.
How awesome was that to have Mitch and Pat coaches? I'm so excited about today. We've been waiting three years for this moment. So, thanks for everyone for being here, for all of you on the live stream. It's great to be here in Kentucky. This is home away from home. And you could debate whether it's Wildcat country or Cardinal Country, but the one thing that we all have in common, it is Ford country. Let me get serious for a moment. In our careers as automobile people, we're lucky if we get to work on one, maybe two projects to really change the face of our industry. And I believe today is going to light the match as one of those projects for all of us here. We finally get to tell what we've been working on for three years behind the doors. We call this the Ford Universal Electric Vehicle Platform. It represents the most radical change on how we design and how we build vehicles at Ford since the Model T. And I'm especially pleased to announce that the first vehicle off this new platform will be a midsize truck built right here at Louisville and will reach customers in 2027. Now, the automotive industry in America is at a crossroads. We're at a crossroads about new technology and about new competition from everywhere. We saw this coming for years. We knew that the Chinese would be the major player for us globally. Companies like BYD, new startups from around the world. Big technology has their ambition in the auto space. They're all coming for us, legacy automotive companies. We needed a radical approach and a really tough challenge to create an affordable vehicle that delights customers in every way that matters: design and innovation, flexibility, interior space, driving pleasure and lower cost of ownership. But we need to do it and be sustainable and make money. And we need to do it with American workers.
We looked at the past for innovation. We looked at the Model T and the flathead V8 that Mr. Ford installed in our cars in '32. These were times when Ford broke with tradition and broke the rules and we made a leap forward. So back three years ago, we did something that no one really saw. We empowered a tiny skunk works group of people in California, a tenth of the normal people we would hire to do this kind of work, three time zones away from Detroit and we gave them the keys to the kingdom. We tore up the moving assembly line that you see here today and we came up with a brand new concept, a brand new vehicle and a better way of making a car after 122 years. We found a path to be the first automaker in the United States to make prismatic LFP battery cells here in the US and not importing them from overseas. And that's right. You are right. We will spend $2 billion here in Louisville modernizing this plant. And that's 2,200 hourly workers that have a future for decades to come. And we didn't stop there. We built a Blue Oval battery park in Michigan. We spent $3 billion building a brand new battery plant and almost 2,000 new jobs for those people. That's $5 billion and 4,000 American jobs. And what do our competitors do? They build their affordable vehicles in South Korea and Japan and they import them. But not us at Ford. We made a big bet on our country and we made a huge bet on the state and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Now, why do I say bet? That's an intentional word. Because there are no guarantees with this project. We're doing so many new things. I can't tell you with 100% certainty that this will all go just right. It is a bet. There is risk. The automotive industry has a graveyard littered with affordable vehicles that were launched in our country with all good intentions. And they fizzled out with idle plants, laid-off workers, and red ink. And at Ford three years ago, we set out to break that cycle. No more compliance cars, no more loss leaders that require a big check from the company to make. We're talking about a vehicle that can sustain itself, have strong profits, so all of our workers and the community here has actually a sustainable future. We could have followed and packed up our bags and moved this kind of project to South Korea or Japan or somewhere else for lower cost labor, currency advantages, low cost suppliers. But that is not the way we do things at Ford. We took on the challenge many others have stopped doing. We're taking the fight to our competition, including the Chinese, with teams across the United States. Designers from California, engineers from Michigan, American workers right here in Louisville.
And after 40 years in the industry, I could tell you for too long, legacy automakers played it safe. It wasn't always that way. You know the beginning of our industry, do you know steam and electricity and gasoline were a third, a third, a third of sales. There was no clear winner on the technology side. It was up for grabs. But two things happened. We found oil in West Texas and Henry Ford came out with the Model T and it was game over. The internal combustion engine took off. The Model T became the true first universal car. It was affordable. It was adaptable like this beautiful pickup truck from the Kentucky Farm. I mean, it came in different body styles. You could put rail car wheels on it. You could use it as a sawmill. It changed society. And if you had a wrench and some common sense, you could even fix it. Now, it's time to change the game once again. The new pickup built here in Louisville is going to cure a lot of problems like all those generic two-row crossovers that dominate our industry. So, I want you to close your eyes metaphorically and think about a product. This new truck based on this universal platform are going to be more spacious inside than the RAV4, the bestselling car in the United States. But it will have a frunk and it will have a whole pickup truck bed behind it. No one has seen this kind of flexibility. Tons of room for five adults, bikes, surfboards, work equipment, whatever you need. You don't have to put it on the top. You don't have to put it on the tow hitch. It's all in the vehicle. It will be faster than our Mustang twin turbo. It will be fully connected with a brand new digital experience no one's seen in our country. It will offer for the first time fast charging. It will have amazing range. It can power your house for 6 days. You don't need a generator. You just buy this truck. And we're going to start the vehicle at $30,000.
Just like old Henry, our idea is that the people work here at Louisville will be able to buy this car and spend money on other things they love like vacations and their home and their kids' education. We'll eventually make multiple body styles for work and play. And Doug and Bryce are going to tell you more about actually how we did that. Our goal again was to put an affordable, unbelievably great product within reach of millions of Americans built in the US by US workers and not be imported. Why hasn't anyone done that? Because it's really, really hard. And it's now time to write that next future and chapter for Ford. So, all I'd have to say is let's go Louisville. Come on. Now, this project is a lot bigger than Ford Motor Company. This project is about our country. Look, I couldn't be more proud of all of you. Thank you for being here to share this special moment, but this is the beginning of the moment. This is not the end. We have a lot of work to do. And I'm so honored today to be joined by the first lady of Kentucky, Brittany Beshear. And oh, by the way, she brought... Thank you. Thank you for being here. And by the way, she also brought her husband. He's a man who knows something about building a future. He's a strong partner for us here in Kentucky. He's done amazing jobs for your state and commonwealth. He's helped to transform. It is my honor to introduce a great leader of our country born right here in Louisville, Governor Andy Beshear.
Hello everyone. What an exciting day for Kentucky and especially Louisville as we mark another historic milestone with Ford Motor Company. Today, Ford Motor Company and Team Kentucky are introducing the world to the future of automotive production. Just like Henry Ford entrusted Kentucky to build his Model T a century ago, today, Jim Farley and chairman Bill Ford are putting that same trust in us once again. Folks, nearly $2 billion is being invested in Louisville, Kentucky. That investment is going to transform the Louisville assembly plant to create the future of auto manufacturing with Ford's universal electric vehicle platform. This cutting edge platform will be the foundation for the next generation of vehicles. The best part is these vehicles will be affordable. They're going to help so many American families keep more money in their pockets for groceries, medicine, school supplies, and yes, even that family vacation. This is a massive investment in our Commonwealth. Even more important, it's securing an incredible 2,200 full-time jobs for our people. After decades of rumors about the future of LAP today, the news has arrived. Jobs will be here in this plant in Kentucky for generations to come. Current Ford employees, kids, and grandkids will have an opportunity to work right here at the Louisville Assembly plant. One day, this partnership between our state and Ford has continued for decades because in Kentucky, we know how to get the job done. And since I became governor, this relationship has only strengthened. Throughout our history, Ford and Kentucky have announced 22 projects totaling $14.8 billion. Together, we've created more than 16,000 jobs. And folks, over half of that investment, $8.4 billion, has come since I've become governor. And we've added 5,500 new jobs for our people. That includes the single largest economic and jobs announcement in Kentucky history where Ford and SK are creating one of the biggest EV battery plants on Earth in Hardin County. From the start, we knew this was an investment so bold and so big it could create its own gravity as more companies work to be a part of the EV supply chain in Kentucky. Now 13.1 billion dollars in EV investments later from companies across the globe, we know that Kentucky has become the EV battery production capital of the United States of America. For most companies and most states, that'd be enough for say a decade or maybe more. But Ford isn't most companies, and Kentucky ain't your average place to do business. Together, we've rolled out some of Ford's most important vehicles, the Model T, the Ford F-Series Super Duty truck. A day so exciting we even proclaimed September 27th, 2022 as Kentucky Day in the Commonwealth. Yes, it was so big they convinced me to do that. The Lincoln Navigator, the Ford Expedition, and they're all built Ford tough by our tough and talented Kentucky workforce. Let's hear it for all these Kentucky workers that helped drive Ford. Today, Ford is again showing that Kentucky not only builds the toughest vehicles, but we're also the best place for the highest technology and the most advanced manufacturing on planet Earth. And that trust in our workforce is why we're seeing so many incredible wins across Kentucky. Over the past five years, we've now announced a record $40 billion in new private sector investment. A record amount nearly doubling what any other administration has accomplished. Last week alone, we celebrated over $5 billion of new investment in our Commonwealth. Together, we've created over 62,500 new jobs in Kentucky at the best three-year average for new wages that we've ever seen. This is the first time that those have all happened at the same time. What's good for our companies, what's good for our workers, and what's good for this Commonwealth. So now, our success is going to grow. This universal electric platform is Ford's bet on the future, and they're counting on Kentucky workers to make it a reality. So, Jim, I want to thank you and Ford for helping us achieve this unprecedented economic success. It takes a lot of guts and a lot of trust to make these types of generational investments. I also want to thank every single Ford employee who has been there for us. And I want to give a big thanks to the thousands of United Auto Workers who are here with us today building a better Commonwealth. They provide the backbone for our construction, advanced manufacturing, and more. Think about it. Ford is literally putting its future in your hands. So, let's give all these workers one more big round of applause. Today is a historic day for our Commonwealth and this great iconic American company. Together, Kentucky and Ford are bringing the future of the EV industry to this world. Folks, I love our Commonwealth. I love our country. And today is a big day for all of us. No left, no right, no red, no blue, no Democrat, no Republican. Just an amazing announcement for Kentucky and the United States of America. So, thank you. God bless all of you. What a day. And next, we're going to hear from Doug Field, Ford's EV chief of digital and design. Thank you all very much.
Thank you, Governor Beshear, not only for joining us at this event, but all of the incredible things you've done to support Ford Motor Company. Thank you. We are so excited to show you what we've done here. It's a peek into the future. It's been really hard to remain quiet, but it's also really special for me to be here. My family goes back over a century in Lexington, and I spent a heck of a lot of summers on a hog and tobacco farm somewhere between here and Lexington. So, I'm team Kentucky, too. Now, so the reason I came back to Ford was I wanted to figure out how we could combine the innovation of the startups like Tesla and Rivian with the industrial might and the storied 122-year history of Ford. And this quote here from Henry Ford was our constant inspiration. The Model T was affordable not because it was a thrifted version of other cars that were out there. It was the result of brilliant minds taking fundamentally new approaches to old problems. We had to do the same thing. So we started very small. We hired a person named Alan Clark who you'll see on video. And we started to build a very small team around that. Handpicked talent, the best from outside of Ford, the best from inside of Ford. We looked for people who were not only the best in their field, but that also had been dying for a chance to challenge convention. And we ran the team differently. It had a fraction of the typical oversight and much lower numbers of people. We didn't allow people who needed to be managed on the program. We wanted leaders. Every member was expected to understand how their work affected the entire work and to prioritize the total cost and to prioritize the way it was built. Here, for example, in our old systems, a chassis engineer might be actually penalized for spending an extra $5 on brakes. And in cases like this project, that $5 could have saved us $20 in batteries, $25 in batteries because they were lower drag. So our team worked that way constantly and tirelessly. One of our mantras was simple. It was the best part is no part. So we locked the doors. We kept the project secret to shield it from well-intended but sometimes disruptive corporate oversight. Even Jim would joke that he wasn't sure his badge worked on the building. And we gave the team access to everything that Ford offers, but we also gave them the permission to question everything from old obsolete requirements to actually having to use a brand new computer-aided design system. So the engineers could see their part every day at the beginning of the day in the entire assembly. So they could keep system thinking. So to ensure focus, we also made sure the entire team was in one building in California. The designers, the aerodynamicists, the people doing the manufacturing work, and decisions were made really quickly, either by Alan in a bi-weekly review that I had or straight to Jim to make the final call. And we wouldn't have gotten this far with this much innovation otherwise. On the topic of efficiency, the same obsession with efficiency goes across every part to make the whole. So we can actually, compared to a typical generation one electric vehicle, we can get the same range with a third less battery. And that's the kind of ingenuity we need to compete with the Chinese. Are we going to compete on labor to make batteries? No. But if we use our brains to have a third smaller battery, we can compete. So, just like the Model T, this innovation is going to be how we deliver affordability and as Jim said, a sustainable project, not a charity case, not a compliance project. But I want you to hear more now from the actual team.
