Ford Motor Co. is undertaking a massive $2 billion transformation of its Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky, retooling the roughly 3-million-square-foot facility from gasoline-powered vehicle production to electric vehicle manufacturing as the automaker prepares to build its new Fathom midsize electric truck in 2027.

The overhaul is part of a broader $5 billion investment that Ford says will create 4,000 jobs across the Louisville Assembly Plant and BlueOval Battery Park Michigan. The scale of the spending underscores the capital intensity facing every major legacy automaker as they convert factories built for internal combustion vehicles to EV production.

The Fathom will be built using Ford's Universal EV Production System, which the company says is designed to reduce parts, simplify assembly, and accelerate production. Under the new system, the truck will be constructed in three major sections — the front, rear, and battery deck — enabling employees to work on each section simultaneously before joining them together. Ford is also adopting large aluminum castings that replace what were previously dozens of smaller stamped and welded components, a manufacturing approach that has gained traction across the auto industry as companies seek to cut parts counts and assembly complexity.

"It is simply foundationally different from how we have done things before," Kevin Young, Ford's advanced program manufacturing chief, said in a statement. "Operators can see everything in front of them and don't need to bend or reach to do it."

Ford says the new production system will allow the Fathom to be assembled 40% faster than the vehicles currently built at the Louisville plant, a gain that could help narrow the cost gap between electric and gasoline vehicles that has slowed broader consumer adoption.

The facility is also receiving a significant technology upgrade. Wi-Fi access points have nearly tripled from 385 to 1,080, and Ford says the plant will have the highest level of final-assembly automation of any of its factories worldwide. Employees have been training in Michigan on the new production process, which the company describes as designed to make assembly work easier and more efficient.

"We've engineered an 84% reduction in reaching over the fender," Bryce Currie, Ford's chief manufacturing officer, said in a statement. "The wiring harness is also more than 4,000 feet shorter and 22 pounds lighter than in our first-gen electric SUV, making it much easier to install."

Ford says it remains on track to begin prototype builds using production-ready parts in the first quarter of 2027, with full Fathom production expected later that year.