Hope for BlueOval City remains high amid waning EV demand
Stanton Mayor Allan Sterbinsky, right, said his town remains enthusiastic about the BlueOval City. Haywood County Mayor David Livingston and Sterbinsky pose for a portrait at a fire station in BlueOval City in 2021. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)
Setbacks, waning consumer demand and weakening government support have created uncertainty about the future of the electric vehicle industry, but the West Tennessee communities near BlueOval City remain hopeful.
Ford’s $5.6 billion, 3,600-acre mega campus covers nearly six square miles in rural Haywood County, less than an hour northeast of Memphis.
The automaker planned to start assembling its electric truck in 2025, but announced in August that it was delaying production until the second half of 2027.
Stanton, a town in Haywood County with 500 residents, is the nearest community to BlueOval City. Despite Ford’s delays, Stanton Mayor Allan Sterbinsky said his town remains enthusiastic about the project.
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Ford Motor Co. BlueOval City automakers BlueOval SK Stanton TN Allan Sterbinsky Subscriber OnlyThank you for supporting local journalism.
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Aisling Mäki
Aisling Mäki covers health care, banking and finance, technology and professions. After launching her career in news two decades ago, she worked in public relations for almost a decade before returning to journalism in 2022.
As a health care reporter, she’s collaborated with The Carter Center, earned awards from the Associated Press and Society of Professional Journalists and won a 2024 Tennessee Press Association first-place prize for her series on discrepancies in Shelby County life expectancy by ZIP code.
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