As Trump Flaunts Ford's $1.2B Investment, Ford Says It Was Planned in 2015

Ford will invest $1.2 billion in three Michigan facilities, a move signaled overnight through a tweet from President Donald Trump — though Ford had originally planned to make the official announcement itself ahead of a Tuesday meeting with Michigan officials.

While Trump was quick to take credit for the investment, the plan is “consistent with what we announced previously," Joe Hinrichs, Ford's President of the Americas, told NBC News, noting that all three projects were in the works well before Trump took office — the largest, involving an $850 million assembly plant investment, approved as part of a deal with the United Auto Workers Union in 2015.

Hinrichs stressed that Ford is “encouraged by the pro-growth approach the administration is trying to follow.”

Seeking $30 Million in Tax Breaks

The three investments are all part of a package that Ford is presenting to the state of Michigan today, seeking about $30 million in tax abatements and other savings over the next 15 years.

All told, the three projects will help save or add thousands of jobs in the suburban Detroit region, in line with one of the president’s priorities.

The largest project will see $850 million go into the Michigan Assembly Plant, about 15 minutes west of the automaker’s Detroit headquarters. The factory had been producing a mix of small cars, including the Ford Focus, which will now be moved to a plant in Mexico.

Related: Ford Cancels Mexican Plant, But Is Still Moving Small Car Production

That decision triggered the rage of then-candidate Donald Trump, who warned that he would enact a border tax to penalize Ford. But the move was actually being made so that the automaker could utilize the Wayne plant to produce two new truck models — modern reincarnations of Ford’s old Bronco SUV and Ranger pickup. In today’s truck-centered U.S. model, analysts say, that strategy is far more likely to retain and even grow jobs.

The decision to put the Ranger and Bronco into the Michigan Assembly Plant was actually locked into place in the four-year contract that Ford signed with the United Auto Workers Union in late 2015. The one major development is that Ford has decided to increase its investment in the factory from $700 million to $850 million, which appears to reflect optimism for the sales prospects for the two vehicles.

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Hinrichs would not discuss what the added investment might mean on a jobs front, but Ford previously said it plans to retain the more than 3,200 workers who had been employed on that assembly line.

To supply powertrains for those two new trucks — as well as other, existing models — Ford says it will invest $150 million in its Romeo Engine Plant in the northern Detroit suburbs. That move is expected to “create or retain 130 jobs,” according to a statement issued by the automaker.

Investing in Technology

The third investment will see Ford spend $200 million to build an all-new data center alongside its assembly plant in the southern Detroit suburb of Flat Rock, Michigan.

“The data center is about where the future is going with connected vehicles,” explained Hinrichs.

The second-largest domestic automaker has repositioned itself as a “mobility company,” focusing on more than just car manufacturing. It is backing that up with investments in such things as autonomous and self-driving vehicles, as well as in-car data services. Just last week, Starbucks announced a three-way project with Amazon and Ford that will let owners of vehicles with the automaker’s latest Sync3 infotainment system order coffee with the touch of a button on their steering wheels.

The Flat Rock data center will support a similar facility going into Ford’s headquarters complex which, itself, is in the midst of a multi-billion-dollar renovation announced last year. Hinrichs said it is too early to say how many white-collar jobs will be created, but the number is expected to be significantly smaller than what is being announced at the Michigan Assembly Plant.

Related: Trump Takes Credit for Ford Keeping a Plant It Was Already Keeping

Since the beginning of the year, Ford has announced about $1.9 billion in new U.S. investments. With one exception, all those moves date back to well before the election of 2016, noted Hinrichs. The one exception was the decision to start producing electrified vehicles at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant. That was locked into place in December.