Ford announces $200 million investment coming to Brook Park plant, 450 jobs

BROOK PARK, Ohio - Ford has announced a $200 million investment at its factory in Brook Park so it can make the four-cylinder, 2-Liter "EcoBoost" engine. It also means 450 new jobs at the factory by 2015.

The factory now makes two larger six-cylinder engines.

Ford announced earlier this week that it was moving production of the popular small engine from Spain to Brook Park as sales of four-cylinder motors rise.

Ford and other carmakers are looking to four-cylinder turbocharged motors to help meet stricter U.S. fuel economy rules. And as pump prices again surge toward $4 a gallon, the engines satisfy driver demand for better mileage. In the U.S., new vehicles will have to average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, twice the roughly 27 mpg they get today.

With the new jobs, Ford will be at the halfway point of its plans to hire 12,000 more hourly workers in the U.S. by 2015.

Ford's 2-Liter EcoBoost engine now is manufactured in Valencia, Spain, and shipped to the U.S., where its sales are growing. More customers are choosing smaller engines as Ford and others offer them on more models. The engines get better gas mileage than six-cylinder motors. And they have turbochargers, which give them more power when needed.