(November 26, 2009) DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford Motor Company is teaming with the University of Detroit Mercy to retrain traditional automotive engineers, providing them with the skills and expertise to develop the next generation of advanced electric and hybrid vehicles.

As vehicle electrification plans expand, the automotive industry’s need for electric vehicle-savvy engineers also is growing, creating increased demand for electrical, mechatronics, systems and controls engineering education. Ford and UDM have collaborated to create a new graduate-level curriculum focused on key engineering skills for the development of electrified vehicles.

The UDM program will supplement Ford’s internal electrical engineering training courses as the company retrains its own employees to deliver an aggressive electric vehicle product strategy. The course series, which begins in January 2010, is designed to advance the knowledge and capabilities of technological team members in the automotive and defense ground vehicle industries.

“The era of electric vehicles is here and it’s critical that we meet this technology challenge by retraining our engineers with a broad range of new skills and competencies,” said Derrick Kuzak, Ford group vice president of Global Product Development. “This program, together with internal training, will support Ford’s aggressive plans to roll out electric and hybrid vehicles in the coming years.”

Ford engineers are already at work developing three distinct types of electrified vehicles — hybrids, plug-in hybrids and pure battery electric vehicles. The vehicles include:

    * Transit Connect battery electric commercial van in 2010
    * Focus battery electric passenger car in 2011
    * Next-generation hybrid vehicle in 2012
    * Plug-in hybrid in 2012

Kuzak added that the magnitude of the training program will be similar to the educational programs undertaken by Ford during the late 1980s when mechanical engineers were trained on electrical engineering.