The Ford BlueOval City site has been under construction for some time now, and when finished, it’s where The Blue Oval will build the second-generation Ford F-150 EV at the Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center – which may or may not continue to wear the Lightning name – starting in 2027. While things have largely progressed well at Ford BlueOval City, the local community did wind up forming the BlueOval Good Neighbors Coalition, which wants FoMoCo to sign a legally binding community benefits agreement as it aims to ensure that the future plant hires locals and also prevents gentrification from occurring. Now, there are other potential concerns stemming from a nearby county.
According to the State Gazette, a resolution supporting Ford BlueOval City was on the agenda at a meeting of the Local Government Committee in Dyer County recently, but those in attendance didn’t pass it on to the full County Legislative Body. “The resolution never made it out of the committee,” Commissioner Hunter Jackson stated in an email. However, Dyer County Mayor David Quick did confirm that leaders do in fact support the project, noting that the resolution is merely in the preliminary stages of development.
“I just wanted my group to take a look at that resolution,” Quick said. “And we might or might not table that for further discussion. I just wanted everybody to be able to take a look at it, mull over it for a while. We are supportive of BlueOval. But they chose to table that for now.” Ford BlueOval City resides in Haywood County, which is a little over 45 miles away from Dyers.
On top of the fact that production of the next-generation Ford F-150 EV has been pushed back on a couple of occasions, the automaker also recently opted to scale back its planned output from 300,000 units annually to less than 100,000 amid slower-than-expected demand for electric vehicles in general. Regardless, Stanton, Tennessee Mayor Allan Sterbinsky recently stated that he believes Ford’s decision to delay production will actually help the surrounding community by giving it more time to beef up infrastructure needed to support a huge influx of people and businesses.
Comments
Huge facility for the relative handful of F-150 EVs they’ll sell. My bet is a volume product like Bronco Sport/Maverick/Escape move from Mexico to Tennessee to escape Tariffs and give Ford more made in America bragging rights. But what I’d really like ton see is that new 4-dr Mustang, branded as a Thunderbird, coming out of that plant for 2027 to give me one last run at a great American sedan before the state takes my D/L away!
Any 4 door Mustang will come out of Flat Rock.