In an era where job cuts at Detroit Big 3 auto plants are a seemingly daily occurrence, it comes as some surprise that the Dearborn, Michigan, automaker is adding 1,000 workers to its Rouge River factory as the automaker predicts an increase in sales of the 2009 Ford F-150 . Even as pickup sales are down – more so than any other segment, Ford thinks its redesigned F-150 will buck the market’s downward spiral.
Ford says it will return a third shift to the plant, which will bring the total employment level to 3,300.
Ford ’s Mark Fields, president of the Americas, is optimistic about the new pickup.
“People are buying trucks in a market, in an economy that’s very poor,” Fields told the Associated Press. “And us being a leader there coming out with a new truck, we feel we’re well positioned.”
