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Welcome back to Bluff City Biz.
Most weeks, we speak with someone in the know about our top stories from the previous week. This week, instead of talking to a guest, we wanted to look back at one of the biggest stories of 2021, the announcement of Blue Oval City, and we wanted to revisit The Daily Memphian’s in-depth special coverage of Ford’s announcement, featuring reporting from Tom Bailey, Jennifer Biggs and Don Wade.
 A pre-production Ford F-150 Lightning is shown. SK Innovation has a contract with Ford Motor Co. to make batteries for the automaker’s new electric F-150 pickup trucks that are scheduled to be on the market next spring. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
There are big announcements, and then there was the mic drop from Ford Motor Co. in September, when it said it planned to invest $5.6 billion in West Tennessee.
In partnership with South Korea-based SK Innovation, Ford plans to bring an assembly campus to the Megasite of West Tennessee, where it will manufacture the F-150 Lightning, Ford’s electric F-Series pickup truck.
Ford’s investment in West Tennessee could bring nearly 6,000 direct jobs to the Haywood County Site and unparalleled stimulus to the regions’ local economies.
In September, during a formal announcement at Shelby Farms Park that drew Ford executives and state and local politicians, Gov. Bill Lee refereed to Ford’s decision as the “single-largest investment in Tennessee history.”
Given the magnitude of Ford’s announcement, The Daily Memphian launched an in-depth series on the project and a look at peer regions that have their own relationships with auto manufacturers.
Three of our veteran journalists visited cities including Chattanooga, Spring Hill, Tennessee and Tupelo, Mississippi, reporting on how auto giants such as Volkswagen, General Motors and Ford came to those communities and dramatically transformed them.
 The General Motors site in Spring Hill, Tennessee, originally covered 2,800 acres but is now 1,700 after GM sold some land and donated land, including for a high school and a firehouse. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)
Spring Hill has had a significant relationship with General Motors since the auto maker began producing its now-defunct Saturn brand of vehicles there in the 1980s.
Once an outdated manufacturing and steel town, Chattanooga went to work on reinventing itself by taking advantage of its riverfront and Downtown. In the end, that was key to landing automaker Volkswagen and spurring a new generation of growth.
They had their doubters, but leaders from three counties in the Tupelo, Mississippi, area believed in their vision for rebooting the local economy.
 David Livingston (left) is the mayor of Haywood County, Tenn., and Allan Sterbinsky is the mayor Stanton, Tenn. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)
Ford’s plans for a $5.6 billion auto plant campus with 6,000 workers has turned the spotlight on Haywood County property owners.
Blue Oval City’s 3,600 acres will include space for a supplier park. Still, state officials anticipate some suppliers locating near the Megasite of West Tennessee.
Communities leaders jostling to attract vehicle manufacturers say the companies and their high-paying jobs can change citizens’ lives. But some critics say the cost is too great.
 Lesa “Suga” Vester and her husband, Timmy, pose for a portrait at their Stanton, Tennessee restaurant Nov. 9, 2021. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)
Stanton has lost population, the income is low and its Downtown is gone, but a can-do mayor and a boost from Blue Oval City seem likely to change the town’s luck.
As Don Wade reports: The technology matters. The capacity matters. But more than anything else, auto manufacturers understand they will only be as good as the training and workers with hands-on new gas-powered and electric vehicles.
Already, the groundwork is being laid for a battle over whether United Auto Workers will represent the thousands of workers at Ford Motor Co.’s Blue Oval City.
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