Ford Rose amid Collab with China in Building Battery Plant

On Monday, Ford Motors improved as it partnered with a Chinese supplier, Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) for a battery plant.

Its stock price went up by 2.83% to $13.09 per share on February 13. However, it is expected to go down by -0.69% to $13.00 apiece in the upcoming session.

Despite tensions between the US and China, Ford will still push through with the $3.50 billion plant.

Furthermore, plans on establishing the factory rely on a judgment that affordable costs and quicker recharging will attract more customers. This includes commercial fleet buyers in dealing with the limitations of lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries.

Also, Ford is looking forward to its decision to produce LFP cells in the US at the fully-owned manufacturing. Yet, the company wants to take the political risk of depending on CATL.

According to Chairman Bill Ford, production in America will get them closer to achieving battery independence. Building these products in Michigan will allow the entity to hit its goal. It includes an 8.00% profit margin on its targeted EV operations for 2026.

In addition, the plant is expected to open in 2026 and hire around 2,500 workers. The new outputs are said to provide different benefits at a lower price. These factors will assist in EV production and profit margin growth.

LAP of Ford Paused Due to Rough Launch

Many employees from Ford Motor Louisville Assembly Plant (LAP) were cut off. The automaker works on sorting out production issues of its new 2023-model Escape SUV.

On February 20, workers will return according to their layoff memo.

Also, LAP has been troubled by a need for parts from suppliers and problems with the redesigned Escape.

In October, Ford revealed changes for their 2023 model, which they began producing this year.

Last month, it manufactured only 3,901 Escape units at LAP. It is their lowest total for the month based on the company’s statistics back in 2020.

According to Brandon Reisinger, the plant’s building chairman, the automaker will recover from its lost production when operation resumes.