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Highest Revenue Plant
When you think Ford, you immediately think of Michigan as its home state and birthplace. You aren’t wrong, but assuming Michigan facilities are the most important and highest revenue-generating is a mistake. Ford’s highest-revenue plant is actually located farther away, in the southeastern United States, in Kentucky.
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The Louisville plant is about to receive a fresh capital investment from Ford to meet more modern car-building standards.
Kentucky’s Importance
Ford just announced it is investing a whopping $1 billion in the Louisville, Kentucky plant. This investment will give the truck-building facility a new state-of-the-art paint shop, which Ford says is another way the brand is modernizing one of its most important manufacturing plants. Ford expects to break ground on the new paint shop sometime this year.
Kentucky’s importance to the Ford brand is further highlighted by its recent $2 billion investment in the same plant to retool it for the new EV pickup production line. Ford also invested $2 billion in Glendale, where Ford Energy Systems will build the battery energy storage systems. The Kentucky plant is Ford’s largest and most profitable; in fact, a new vehicle rolls off the production line every 45 seconds.
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Impacting the People
A 2020 study by the Boston Consulting Group found that Ford contributes $11.7 billion annually to Kentucky’s GDP, and nearly 120,000 people in Kentucky are employed by Ford and its suppliers and dealers. Another 2023 report showed that the automaker has a $33 billion total economic impact on the state. In total, the Kentucky plant employs 11,500 skilled workers who help keep it one of the top manufacturing centers in the U.S.
Ford’s history in Louisville dates back to 1913, when the first Model T rolled off the production line. Over 6,000 Ford retirees are also Kentucky natives.
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This story was originally published September 13, 2026 at 6:00 AM.