Following a UPS plane crash in Louisville just outside of the UPS Worldport facility, the neighboring Ford Louisville Assembly Plant is closed for operations on Nov. 5.
On Nov. 4 around 5:20 p.m., an outbound UPS MD-11 heading to Hawaii crashed shortly after departure from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport near Grade Lane in Louisville. At least nine people have died as a result of the plane crash — making it the deadliest plane crash in the history of UPS Airlines.
The Ford Louisville Assembly Plant, 2000 Fern Valley Road, sits directly beside the UPS Worldport facility, the largest shipping and logistics facility globally for UPS and its UPS Airlines headquarters.
On Nov. 4, workers at LAP initially sheltered in place and were eventually evacuated. The power was turned off at the plant, which manufactures the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair, as a precaution.
“Louisville Assembly Plant employees went home last night after the controlled power outage took effect across the local area. No employee injuries we’re aware of,” Ford spokesperson Jessica Enoch told USA Today Co. on Nov. 5.
Enoch said production on Nov. 5 at LAP will remain paused for at least the day shift because of the ongoing controlled power outage across the area.
Enoch did not immediately say how the temporary shutdown would impact Ford’s overall inventory production at LAP.
Todd Dunn, president of UAW Local 862, told The Courier Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, via phone call on Nov. 4 that LAP was not hit by the plane crash and that employees at the plant were safe in the immediate aftermath of the crash.
Here’s what to know about Ford Louisville Assembly Plant:
Ford builds its Escape and Lincoln Corsair small SUVs at Louisville Assembly Plant. Those vehicles will go out of production for good at the end of 2025, but Ford has said it has enough in inventory to carry sales through 2026.
In August, Ford announced a $2 billion investment at LAP to enable the automaker to build a new midsize, four-door electric pickup, estimated to start at about $30,000, as part of a new universal EV platform. Vehicles should be available to consumers in 2027.
This latest production disruption comes as Ford navigates other production interruptions from a different fire.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker said on Oct. 23 that a late-night fire that destroyed part of the Novelis aluminum plant in New York last month is creating a shortage in aluminum and production disruptions that will cost Ford $1.5 billion to $2 billion over the next few months and into 2026 due to production pauses of pickups and other vehicles that use aluminum in their bodies. Ford expects to mitigate at least $1 billion of that, putting the ultimate hit to its adjusted earnings before interest and taxes at about $1 billion or less.
Ford COO Kumar Galhotra said the company expects to stop production of its highly profitable F-150 pickup made at Dearborn Truck Plant over the next few weeks due to the aluminum shortage. Ford has stopped production of its all-electric F-150 Lightning made at Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn and temporarily paused production at Kentucky Truck Plant of its large SUVs last month due to that fire.
The company recently announced it would invest $60 million and create new jobs into the Kentucky Truck Plant to help recoup lost production from the aluminum fire.
Contact business reporter Olivia Evans at oevans@courier-journal.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @oliviamevans_. Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press.