When Ford Motor Company, a keystone of American business, says they’re investing in something, people sit up and take notice.
That’s why their announcement on Monday — that they’d be investing nearly $2 billion in outfitting a Kentucky assembly plant to manufacture electric vehicles — is a powerful statement about the future.
The Ford Louisville plant has been producing gasoline-powered vehicles for 70 years, and the American auto company will point its future toward, well, the future.
Despite steps by the current White House to strip away incentives for electric vehicles, for EV charging projects and for renewable energy like solar and wind, America’s first car company is betting on the continued growth of the market for electric vehicles.
Ford, of course, sees the global trends of manufacturers producing these cars and trucks for drivers around the world. That trend and the EV market will not go away just because this administration is pushing a return to fossil fuels through their policies. Those policies will run out in a few short years.
Successful businesses, on the other hand, see and plan 10, 20, 30 years into the future. They have to, in order to stay in business, reap the rewards of their investments and innovate for ongoing success.
Electric vehicles, renewable energy, clean fuels, energy-efficient technologies will be a central part of America’s economy five years from now. That’s necessary if we are going to compete for business around the globe. Ford just confirmed that they are betting on innovation and evolution. They’ve been around for 122 years, so they know a thing or two about how to place those bets to come out ahead.
Editorials for The Hancock News are written by editor Kate Shunney.
