SOUNDBITES: FORD INSOURCES KEY ELECTRIFICATION VEHICLE COMPONENTS

Ford Motor Company – moving to create a center of excellence in Michigan for vehicle electrification – today announced it is investing $135 million to design, engineer and produce key components for the company’s next-generation hybrid-electric vehicles. Sherif Marakby (She-reef Mah-rock-bee), Director of Electrification Programs and Engineering, said it’s an important move that brings work from other countries back to the United States.

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Cut #1:	"That’s correct, I mean the current battery packs that we make for our Hybrids and for example, the Fusion Hybrid is manufactured and assembled in Mexico, so we are bringing them right here to Michigan for the next generation and on the transaxle side, the transmission side, we are, our transmissions today are assembled in Japan, so we’re also bringing, the transmission, a piece of the system right here to Michigan." :26 sec.
	Ford’s Rawsonville Plant in Ypsilanti, Mich., will assemble the battery packs beginning in 2012, moving work to Michigan that is currently performed in Mexico by a supplier. Ford’s Van Dyke Transmission Plant in Sterling Heights, Mich., will build the electric drive transaxles for the next generation hybrids beginning in 2012, transaxles currently built in Japan. Ford is adding a combined 170 jobs at the Rawsonville and Van Dyke facilities to build these key components.
Cut #2:	"We do all the integration meaning, the soft ware, the controls, how these parts all work together, we do that right here in Michigan and by having the components or the parts, all developed in house it makes it that much easier to integrate and get more fuel economy out of it, more efficiency, integrate the parts so they’re lighter smaller, and less costly to the customers." :25 sec.
	Marakby sees today’s announcement being significant in two ways.
Cut #3:	"Well I think what’s exciting about today is that we are announcing two of the major enablers for electrification, in terms of the components and any of the hybrids, plug-ins or battery electronics, which are the battery and the transmission." :14 sec.
	Today’s announcement is one piece of a larger strategy that includes the launch a family of electrified vehicles to meet differing customer needs.
Cut #4:	"Not only are we making the parts, integrating the parts, we’re also assembling the vehicle here in Michigan, that’s one of the recipients of this technology it’s going to be a vehicle that’s assembled in the Michigan assembly plant." :11 sec.
	Ford’s creation of a center of excellence for vehicle electrification now includes the design and manufacture of electrified key components as well as total vehicle manufacturing.
Cut #5:	"We’re not only manufacturing them here, we’re also developing them and designing in S.E. Michigan, which is a big piece of the growth, where we’re adding over 50 engineers to our staff." :11 sec.
	Ford’s global electrification strategy includes plans to launch two next generation hybrids, a plug in hybrid and two battery electric vehicles for the North American market by 2012 and European markets by 2013.