Ford Motor (F) shares moved higher Thursday after the carmaker published details of its expanded investments in electrified vehicle production that will create nearly 75,000 new jobs over the next four years.
Collectively, Ford will invest $3.7 billion in new facilities in Michigan, Ohio and Missouri, most of it focused on EVs, while creating an estimated 74,000 new direct and indirect new jobs. The spending forms part of Ford's previously-announced $50 billion in new EV investments, spread over the next five years, that were unveiled in March.
A Ford official told a meeting of the Michigan Strategic Fund Thursday that the carmaker would invest $2 billion, and create 3,200 new jobs, as it ramps-up production of the F-150 Lightning, as well as new Mustang and Ranger pickup models.
“Ford is America’s Number 1 employer of hourly autoworkers, and this investment only deepens our commitment to building great new vehicles – from an all-new Mustang to new EVs – right here in the U.S. in partnership with the UAW,” said executive chair Bill Ford. “I am proud that we are investing in the Midwest and taking real action to provide better benefits and working conditions for our workers on the plant floor.”
Ford shares were marked 2.3% higher in early Thursday trading to change hands at $13.80 each, a move that would leave the stock with a year-to-date decline of around 33%.
Ford CEO Jim Farley, who outlined the broad strokes of the carmaker's near-term plans to boost electric vehicle sales and accelerate its challenge to Tesla's TSLA market dominance, said the announcement will focus on "new jobs, new products and our latest investment in America's workforce".
Farley told the Bernstein Strategic Decisions conference in New York yesterday that Ford could mimic Tesla's strategy of selling directly to customers, with a stripped-down dealer network, in order to meet its lofty EV ambitions.
"We've got to go to non-negotiated price. We've got to go to 100% online. There's no inventory (at dealerships), it goes directly to the customer," Farley said. "And 100% remote pickup and delivery."
"The standards (for dealers) are going to be brutal," he added. "They're going to be very different than they are today."
Ford said in late April that pricing power and robust demand, particularly for its just-launched F-150 Lightning, would offset supply constraints and the impact of Russia's war on Ukraine as it stuck to its full-year operating earnings forecast of between $11.5 billion and $12.5 billion.
Farley said at the time that the carmaker's "major focus now is accelerating a more fundamental change in our supply chain management", adding that he's absolutely committed to "unlocking value by improving our growth profile, our profitability and ability to generate sustainable cash flows from our automotive-related businesses."
The group has also been split into three separate divisions -- Ford Model E, which focuses on EV development, Ford Pro, its commercial unit, and Ford Blue for its ICE-based trucks and SUVs.
It has also agreed a deal with South Korea's SK On and Turkey's Koc Holding to develop an electric vehicle batter plant in southeastern Europe, with plans to double the number of cars made on the German group's modular electric-drive platform (MEB) to around 1.2 million units over the next six years.
Nickel prices, however, a key component in battery production, have risen 33.8% so far this year to around $27,700 per ton on the London Metals Exchange, while battery-grade lithium carbonate prices are up around 60% from early 2021 levels.
