Ford News: Automaker To Add 450 US Jobs To Build Electric Vehicles

After announcing 200 layoffs in Oakville, Ontario, Canada, to occur in September with more layoffs possible layoffs in January, Ford (F) said it will create 450 jobs at its Chicago plant, where it is investing $50 million to upgrade the facility. The plant will be used to partially assemble hybrid-electric SUVs and other vehicles for use by law enforcement, Business Insider reported.

The Chicago plant is currently used by Ford to modify vehicles for use by police departments, which will move to another nearby facility after the retooling at the plant has been completed, according to the news outlet.

Ford will begin partially assembling its hybrid Ford Explorer SUV and Lincoln Aviator Grand Touring SUV later this year at the facility. It will also partially assemble the Police Interceptor SUV at the plant.

"Aiming to keep up with strong demand, Ford is investing $50 million and adding 450 more jobs to create an incremental assembly line near Chicago Assembly Plant," Ford spokeswoman Kelli Felker told the Northwest Indiana Times. "This additional line will allow Ford to build certain configurations of Ford Explorer, Lincoln Aviator and Police Interceptor SUVs to get them to our customers more quickly and with the quality our customers expect."

Ford employs about 5,000 workers at its Chicago Assembly Plant and about 1,200 at its Chicago Stamping plant, which it recently invested $1 billion to upgrade the facilities.

Shares of Ford stock were down 1.57 percent as of 11:21 a.m. ET on Tuesday.