In late 2019, the Ford Romeo Engine plant in Michigan was slated to be closed as part of a labor agreement with the United Auto Workers union, though the latter lobbied to keep the plant open for a bit longer. Regardless, the automaker also moved some of that facility’s employees to the Ford Van Dyke Transmission plant as it converted that facility to the Van Dyke Electric Powertrain Center, which now produces electric motors and transaxles – a move that CEO Jim Farley recently stated will actually save jobs, not eliminate them. Now, however, the Ford Romeo Engine plant has closed for good, according to The Detroit News.
“Our employees are our top priority,” Ford spokesperson Said Deep said in a statement. “All hourly employees at Romeo Engine Plant have accepted a transfer to a local Ford facility or a buyout when the plant stops production at the end of this year, as negotiated in the 2019 UAW Ford contract.”
The Romeo plant has been in operation for nearly fifty years, building a host of different powerplants over the timeframe including, most recently, the Ford 5.2L V8 Voodoo, Ford 5.2L V8 Predator, Ford 5.2L V8 Aluminator, and the Ford V8 6.2L Boss engine destined for the Ford E-Series cutaway van, as well as key engine components like blocks and rods for the Ford 5.0L V8 Coyote, as well as heads, blocks, and crankshafts for the Ford 2.3L I-4 EcoBoost powerplant. Production of the automaker’s 5.2L-based engines has since been moved to the Dearborn Engine plant, while the 6.2L V8 was recently discontinued.
As for what will become of the 270-acre site, well, that much is currently undecided. Lawmakers previously lobbied Ford to convert it for the production of EV batteries, but the automaker stated that the facility isn’t large enough for such endeavors.
We’ll have more on all of Ford’s plants from around the world soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for non-stop Ford news coverage.
Comments
Romeo plant closing ‘for good’. Good for who? Ford workers there? Local business that rely on those same Ford workers and their families?
No, what you should have said, “Romeo plant closes PERMENTLY”
How could you not mention the 4.6 L V-8 both 2v and 4v configuration, well over a million of them. Amazing oversite
THANK YOU! I HAVE A 2004 EXPLORER 4.6L WITH 165k RUNS PERFECT GETS 20+ ON THE HIWAY. USES NO OIL! I’M READY FOR AN OIL CHANGE 49OO ON THE OIL IT IS NOT EVEN DIRTY. ALL STOCK ORIGINAL ENGINE PARTS, HAS HAD PLUGS AND FILTERS. A GREAT VEHICLE
Some damn good engines came out of Romeo! SAD
If Ford wants to know something these electric cars don’t work out here in the central plains a few weeks ago we had really strong winds and 40 degrees below 0 and snow took 6 gallons of gas to go 71 miles a electric car would have not made it. The electric cars are alright for the big cities but for us that live out in the middle of nowhere there not going to work. So if some big rig thinks it’s going to work out here better get his electric car and come out in a snow storm and see how far he gets and I’m not going to pick him up either when his goes dead just let him freeze than that big rig will think differently
Damn, I’m smelling burnt toast after reading this aneurysm inducing comment
I remember when the plant went from a tractor plant to an engine plant. We had several traveling electricians staying at the Yale Hotel in Yale, MI. Nicest bunch of guys you could ask for. They respected all of us waitresses. They even made 2 large pots of jambalaya with dirty gravy from LA, for everyone there. One with shrimp and one with pork.