Filed under: Truck, Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, Plants/Manufacturing, Ford



Ohio is a hot area for Ford at the moment with the announcement just a few weeks ago that production of the next-generation F-650/F-750 medium-duty trucks would move from Mexico to the Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake, Ohio. Now, Ford is investing $500 million to hire 300 workers at its Lima Engine Plant in Lima, Ohio, to add production of the twin-turbo 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 for the 2015 F-150.

The latest investment will be used to add a new flexible engine assembly system and renovate 700,000 square feet of the plant for machining and assembly areas. The Lima factory already builds Ford's 3.5-liter and 3.7-liter Duratec V6 engines. The plant opened in 1957, and it's on track to build its 40 millionth engine later this year.

Ford claims that the 2.7-liter EcoBoost will offer V8 performance with better efficiency in the F-150. It comes standard with intelligent stop/start that doesn't activate when the truck is towing or in four-wheel drive, and it's made from a combination of compacted graphite iron and aluminum for low weight and high strength. The company says that V6 engines have already proven popular in the F-150 with 57 percent of trucks in 2014 being equipped with either the naturally aspirated 3.7-liter or turbocharged 3.5-liter EcoBoost engines.

The new F-150 is scheduled to hit the market in the fourth quarter of this year, and it will be offered with the naturally aspirated 3.5-liter V6, 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6, 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 and 5.0-liter V8. Scroll down to read the full press release.Continue reading Ford investing $500M in engine plant for 2.7L EcoBoost production

Ford investing $500M in engine plant for 2.7L EcoBoost production originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 30 Mar 2014 13:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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