Ford today held a press conference at its Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan to announce a sizeable $4.5 billion investment into U.S. manufacturing, the cancelation of its planned assembly plant in Mexico, and the push toward hybrid, electric, and autonomous vehicles. The F-150 leads the truck charge, with Ford saying the half-ton pickup will have an hybrid powertrain by 2020.

Ford further divulged the F-150 will continue being build at the Dearborn truck plant and that its hybrid powertrain will allow it to act as a mobile generator for job sites, while its payload and towing capacity will not be dramatically affected. Ford did not, however, spell out what type of hybrid system it will use. Rumors suggest the system will include an EcoBoost engine with an electric motor positioned between it and the transmission.

In addition to the F-150 Hybrid, Ford announced a fully electric crossover with a promised range of 300 miles. The unnamed vehicle will be built in Flat Rock for the 2020 model year and sell in North America, Europe, and Asia. The range exceeds that of the Tesla Model X’s current 289-mile maximum.

Ford’s new electric push includes a $700-million investment into the Flat Rock Assembly Plant and is expected to add 700 U.S. jobs. The investment is coming from the cancelled $1.8 billion assembly plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Most will recognize the proposed assembly plant as the target of president-elect Donald Trump’s condemnation.

While it’s unclear whether Ford’s move was directly in response to Trump, Ford’s announcement did plainly state 3,500 jobs at the Michigan Assembly plant would be safeguarded and two new “iconic products” would soon take the place of the Ford Focus. The Focus will be relocated to an existing assembly plant in Mexico.

Of course, those “iconic products” are all but officially confirmed as the Ranger pickup and Bronco SUV. Hopefully the 2017 North American International Auto Show on January 9 and 10 will bring that official word.

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Why It Matters

A hybrid F-150, huh? The idea isn’t too far-fetched. You might recall General Motors produced a hybrid version of the Silverado, Tahoe, and Escalade in the mid-2000s. The body-on-frame trucks uses a conventional V-8 powertrain, but had an electric battery pack that powered an electric motor mounted within the transmission. The extra juice would help reduce the fuel needed to move the vehicle around town.

No one knows how Ford will incorporate a hybrid powertrain within the F-150, but we can bet it will have an impressive EPA fuel economy rating. We expect the hybrid F-150 to have a best-in-class “City” rating, though the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel will likely continue boasting the best-in-class “Highway” fuel economy of 29 mpg – that is unless Ford debuts it’s hotly rumored light-duty Power Stroke turbodiesel. You can rest assured Ford engineers have targeted the Ram 1500 and will do everything besides cheating EPA tests (**cough Volkswagen cough**) to hit the all-important 30 mpg highway.

As for the F-150 itself, we expect the 2020 to bring a new generation to market – or at least an extensive facelift. Ford is expected to debut a refreshed F-150 at the 2017 Detroit Auto Show. That truck will span the gap between the 2018 model year and the 2020 model year.

Stick around to TopSpeed for more. We’ll bring you more news as we have it.

Read our full review on the 2017 Ford F-150 here.