HAYWOOD COUNTY, Tenn. — Top Ford leaders spoke with the public Tuesday about Blue Oval City, the $5.6 billion electric vehicle and battery plant near Stanton, Tennessee, that is expected to be a huge economic boon to the area.
The project has brought a lot of excitement to West Tennessee with the promise of economic development and thousands of jobs when the plant opens in 2025.
The new plant will be the largest and most advanced in Ford's history and will bring more than 6,000 jobs to the area, most of those being highly technical in nature, though Ford emphasized they are prepared to train the workforce to work with the specialized equipment.
In order to hire such a large workforce in a relatively short period of time, Ford said they are committed to working with local education systems, developing STEM curriculum that will allow students to have the technical skills needed to work at the plant.
They also said they are working with external organizations, like veteran hiring groups, noting that they want to ensure an "extremely strong" workforce.
Company officials said they're focusing on protecting and preserving the aquifers and watersheds in West Tennessee, as well as helping serve the needs of the people who live there.
"I'm mostly excited about the change and economic development in our entire community," said Bill Rawls, the mayor of Brownsville, Tennessee. "We're going to have a lot of people moving to Brownsville, to Haywood County, we're going to have the opportunity to grow."
The company expects to start hiring engineering positions at the plant in early 2023, slowly ramping up the hiring process from there until the plant opens.