Kentucky’s governor celebrated the upcoming redesign of Ford Motor Co.’s Super Duty pickups by adding an “R” to the state’s name for a day.
“Kentuckians have been building Ford trucks since the Model T, and we are thrilled this tradition is going to continue with the all-new Ford F-Series Super Duty,” Gov. Andy Beshear said in proclaiming Sept. 27 to be “KenTRUCKy Day.”
Ford used the day to reveal the updated Super Duty at the Churchill Downs Racetrack in Louisville. It also announced plans to invest $700 million in the Kentucky Truck Plant and hire 500 additional hourly workers to build the 2023 Super Duty.
The investment is on top of the $5.8 billion that Ford and partner SK Innovation are spending in Kentucky to build a 1,500-acre manufacturing campus called BlueOval SK Battery Park. Two battery plants are scheduled to open on the site, about 50 miles south of Louisville, in 2025.
Beshear’s proclamation said Ford employs more than 12,000 people in the state and indirectly supports about 120,000 jobs there.
“Ford’s roots run deep in Kentucky,” John Savona, vice president of Americas manufacturing and labor affairs for Ford Blue, the automaker’s gasoline-powered vehicle division, said in a statement. “We hope Kentuckians take just as much pride in building America’s favorite truck as they do in their basketball, bourbon, and thoroughbreds.”