The adjacent Ford Louisville Assembly Plant ceased operations on Nov. 5 following the UPS plane crash in Louisville, just outside the UPS Worldport facility.
At approximately 5:20 p.m. on Nov. 4, a UPS MD-11 bound for Hawaii crashed shortly after departing from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport near Glade Lane in Louisville. The plane crash killed at least nine people, making it the deadliest plane crash in UPS Airlines history.
The Ford Louisville Assembly Plant is located at 2000 Fern Valley Road, directly next to the UPS Worldport facility, the world’s largest transportation and logistics facility for UPS and UPS Airlines headquarters.
On November 4, LAP employees were initially evacuated to a designated location, but were eventually evacuated. Power was turned off as a precaution at the plant that makes the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair.
Ford spokeswoman Jessica Enoch told USA Today on Nov. 5, “Employees at the Louisville assembly plant returned home last night after a controlled power outage occurred across the region. To our knowledge, no employees were injured.”
Enoch said November 5 production at LAP will continue to be suspended, at least for the day shift, as controlled power outages continue across the region.
Enoch did not immediately say how the temporary closure would affect overall Ford inventory production at LAP.
UAW Local 862 President Todd Dunn told the Courier Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, by phone on Nov. 4 that LAP was unaffected by the plane crash and that the plant’s employees were safe immediately after the crash.
Here’s what you need to know about the Ford Louisville Assembly Plant.
What is made at the Ford Louisville Assembly Plant?
Ford produces the Escape and Lincoln Corsair small SUVs at its Louisville assembly plant. Production of these vehicles will end permanently at the end of 2025, but Ford says it has enough inventory to sell them through 2026.
In August, Ford announced a $2 billion investment in LAP, allowing the company to build a new midsize four-door electric pickup truck with an estimated price starting at about $30,000 as part of a new universal EV platform. The car is expected to be available to consumers in 2027.
Ford production will be suspended in 2025
The latest production disruption comes as Ford weathers other production disruptions caused by separate fires.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker said on Oct. 23 that a late-night fire that destroyed part of its Novelis aluminum plant in New York last month caused aluminum shortages and production disruptions that would cost Ford $1.5 billion to $2 billion over the next few months and into 2026 due to halted production of pickup trucks and other vehicles that use aluminum in their bodies. Ford expects to reduce at least $1 billion of that amount, with the ultimate hit to adjusted earnings before interest and taxes being about $1 billion or less.
Ford Chief Operating Officer Kumar Galhotra said the company expects to halt production of its profitable F-150 pickup trucks made at its Dearborn truck plant in the coming weeks due to aluminum shortages. Because of the fire, Ford halted production of the all-electric F-150 Lightning, which is built at its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, and suspended production of large SUVs at its Kentucky Truck Plant last month.
The company recently announced it will invest $60 million and create new jobs at its Kentucky truck plant to recover from production losses caused by the aluminum fire.
Contact business reporter Olivia Evans at oevans@courier-journal.com or @oliviamevans_ on X (former Twitter name). Jamie L. Lareau is a senior auto writer covering Ford Motor Company for the Detroit Free Press.
