Good news for the Northerners

LARRY BRUDZYNSKI · March 31, 2008

/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/readthis.gifhttp://www.clickondetroit.com/news/15752535/detail.html

See good things do happen....

Keith Browning · March 31, 2008

Quote:

Ford To Reopen Plant

POSTED: 1:54 pm EDT March 31, 2008

WINDSOR, Ont. -- Ford Motor Co. said Monday it will reopen an engine plant in Windsor, Ontario, after getting a $16.5 million grant from the Ontario government.

Ford closed the Essex Engine Plant in November, affecting around 650 jobs, as part of a broad restructuring that will shutter 16 facilities by 2012. Ford spokeswoman Kerri Stoakley said Ford plans to invest $165 million in the plant and hire 300 workers to make the new engines.

Stoakley wouldn't say when the plant will reopen or what it will make, but Ontario government spokeswoman Jane Almeida said the plant is expected to reopen in the next few months. Almeida said the $16.5 million was a cash grant from the province's Auto Investment Strategy Fund, which invests in companies that promise to keep jobs in Ontario.

A message seeking comment was left with Canadian Auto Workers Local 200. Ford and the CAW are set to bargain a new three-year contract agreement starting this summer.

Ford is planning a new line of four- and six-cylinder engines called EcoBoost that could be headed to Windsor. Ford has said the engines will improve fuel economy by up to 20 percent using turbocharging and direct-injection technology. The engines are set to debut later this year on the 2009 Lincoln MKS sedan.

The Essex plant produced V-6 and V-8 engines, among other products, before it was closed.