Ford V-8 'here to stay'

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Ford V-8 'here to stay'

BY DAVE HALL, THE WINDSOR STAR FEBRUARY 27, 2010

New fuel-efficient V-8 engines being built at the Essex Engine Plant are destined for more than one vehicle, a senior Ford Motor Co. official confirmed Friday.

"This is truly the best engine in the world and we plan to use it on more than just the Ford Mustang, because our customers are demanding top performance and top fuel economy and this engine delivers both," said Jim Tetreault, the company's vice-president of North American manufacturing.

The plant's more than 300 workers applauded and cheered his words during a news conference Friday

Tetreault stopped short of identifying vehicles, but said the 5.0-litre V-8s "are here to stay and we have no plans of not producing V-8 engines. We wouldn't have made such a massive investment in this plant if they weren't here to stay."

He made the comments after the province announced it will kick in $81.2 million to match an $80-million grant announced in September 2008 by the federal government.

The province also provided an initial grant of $17 million in 2008. The government money helped re-open the plant on the city's far east side.

The government commitments and Ford's investment of $590 million means more than $750 million is being pumped into the plant over the next five years to create as many as 757 jobs.

Tim Little, CAW Local 200 plant chairman, said a second shift will be added by September, bringing the workforce to between 400 and 500.

"On two shifts, with a small amount of overtime, we'll have the capacity to build 237,000 engines a year," said Little. "We haven't been told about any new products but clearly the Mustang won't need all that volume, so we're looking forward to those new product announcements."

Little said the plant, now on one shift and building 78,000 engines a year, is working at about one-eighth of its potential capacity.

http://www.windsorstar.com/technolog...068/story.html