Ford Invests in Ohio Engine Plant to Meet EcoBoost Demand

Ford will invest $200 million at a Brook Park, OH, engine plant to produce its 2.0L direct-injected turbocharged EcoBoost 4-cyl. engine, shifting output of the powerplant for the U.S. from its operations in Valencia, Spain.

The auto maker will add 450 jobs at the Ohio facility, which will launch Job One late next year.

Although the engine will continue to be built in Valencia for the European market, some employees will be transferred to an assembly plant there to support increased output of the C-Max and Kuga cross/utility vehicles and the Transit Connect and Tourneo Connect commercial vans.

The Brook Park facility currently manufactures the 3.5L EcoBoost and 3.7L normally aspirated V-6 engines, with the auto maker adding the 2.0L into the mix to meet rising demand for the smaller-displacement engine.

Ford plans to expand EcoBoost production to 1.6 million units this year in the U.S., nearly 100,000 above the previous target. EcoBoost engines will be available on more than 90% of Ford’s North American nameplates in 2013 and 95% by 2015.

The 2.0L EcoBoost powers a number of Ford’s top-selling vehicles, including the Fusion midsize sedan, Explorer SUV and Focus ST performance car.

Erich Merkle, Ford’s top U.S. sales analyst, says the auto maker first offered the engine on the Explorer and Edge beginning in August 2011. That year, 6,900 vehicles were sold with the 2.0L EcoBoost, a number that jumped to more than 96,000 in full-year 2012 when the Fusion and Escape were made available with the mill.

Last month, Ford sold 15,000 vehicles in North America equipped with the 2.0L EcoBoost, Merkle tells WardsAuto.

According to Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer, members of United Auto Workers Local 1250 and Ford inked a deal Feb. 13 that cleared the way for the engine-plant investment.

Under terms of the agreement, the 450 jobs to be added at the plant will be filled by laid-off workers, rather than new hires who would have been paid the lower, entry-level wages allowed under the Ford-UAW national agreement.

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