• May 31, 2012

At the Mackinac Policy Conference this week, Ford Motor Company Chairman Bill Ford said Michigan needs key policy reform toward innovation to keep Michigan competitiveness and creating new, high-tech jobs.

"While Michigan is the home of the auto industry, the trends affecting our industry offer a great opportunity to make it the home of a variety of other industries as well," said Ford. "We are heading in the right direction to grow Michigan by putting the right policies in place and investing in Michigan's future." Ford said green technology and mobility can give Michigan a boost as a global innovation center.

"No other sector of the economy creates as many spinoff jobs as the auto sector. For each job created in autos, nine more jobs are created to support it," said Ford. "In the past two years, half of the new jobs that have been created here were manufacturing-related."

He said Ford has invested nearly a billion dollars to build electric vehicles and the battery packs. "We want this technology to become a core competency for us in the 21st century. And we are building the expertise to do that right here in our home state."