Michigan scales back incentive package for Ford Marshall battery plant by $69 million

(FOX 2) - The fund dedicated to attracting large-scale business ventures in Michigan is scaling back the massive investment it had agreed to give Ford for its planned Marshall battery manufacturing plant.

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation said it would reduce its planned investment by a third, revising its total amount to $141 million.

The MEDC's change was made after Ford said it would be "rescoping" the project due to slower-than-expected growth in the adoption of electric vehicles in the U.S. Ford announced the facility's reduction in November. 

The Michigan Strategic Fund, which is tasked with approving large grants with the intention of attracting business, had approved a major investment in Ford's Martshall Battery Plant that would have created 2,500 jobs and $3.5 billion in investment. 

The original agreement with Ford to construct a 2.5 million square-foot battery plant included $210 million in incentives from the state.

But since approving the agreement, the EV market has slowed, a memo from the MEDC outlining the new incentive package. 

"The Company (Ford) is still committed to the projects; however, it has had to shift its allocation of capital to better match production and capacity demands while also recognizing the automotive industry is still in an accelerated transition to electrified propulsion allowing for transformative and far-reaching development," it reads.

Ford will instead invest $2.5 billion and create 1,700 jobs. 

"I can confirm that the Michigan Strategic Fund did in fact reduce the originally announced incentive to Ford following a rescoping of the project," a spokesperson with MEDC said. "That decision was announced today. In short, today’s announcement is updating or amending three previously approved investment announcements Ford has announced, thanks in part to state funding."

This story has been updated to reflect when Ford first announced the change.