(Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co. plans to spend about $900 million and hire about 900 workers to build electric and self-driving vehicles in Michigan, while moving production of a small commercial van to Mexico from Europe.

The moves, announced the same day Donald Trump visits an Ohio tank plant, follows the president’s sharp criticism of General Motors Co. for idling a car factory in Lordstown, Ohio. Ford is reiterating some previous financial and employment commitments, while changing gears for the third time on building electric vehicles at an underutilized factory south of Detroit.

Roughly a year and a half after shifting production of a future electric sport utility vehicle to Mexico from Flat Rock, Michigan, Ford says it now plans to build other battery-powered models there and add a second shift of workers by 2023, at a cost of $850 million. The automaker also is spending $50 million to establish a facility near Detroit where workers will add the self-driving software to autonomous vehicles that will be built at Flat Rock. The factory will continue to produce the Mustang sports car and Lincoln Continental sedan.

“When we stepped back and looked at our plans for the future with battery-electric vehicles and electrification in general and the commitment to $11 billion in investment, it was very clear to us over the last year or so that we were going to need a second plant,” Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president of global operations, said in an interview. “It became pretty clear to us that Flat Rock was the right plant to have that capacity. It has a lot of experience building multiple different things.”

As sales of traditional sedans have dwindled, Ford is preparing for a future when electric vehicles and self-driving cars transform transportation. The Flat Rock factory has become a symbol of that change: Ford is cutting a shift of workers because of slow sales of the Continental and Mustang, but will now create new jobs to build battery-powered and autonomous vehicles.

Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett is leading an $11 billion overhaul of the automaker, which saw net income fall by more than half last year. Ford’s restructuring will involve cutting thousands of salaried jobs and closing factories in unprofitable overseas operations.

Ford is shifting production of its Transit Connect compact commercial van from Turkey to Hermosillo, Mexico, where it will be built in the same factory now producing the Fusion sedan. Hinrichs said he doesn’t expect the move to have any impact on a U.S. Customs case in which Ford has been accused of “tariff engineering.”

Hinrichs said Ford had informed U.S. and Michigan government officials about the investments, but he declined to directly address Trump’s recent criticisms of GM.

“We’re just proud of our presence here in the U.S.,” Hinrichs said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Keith Naughton in Southfield, Michigan at knaughton3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, Chester Dawson

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