Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., speaks during an event at the Michigan Central Station in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan, U.S., on Tuesday, June 19, 2018. Ford will redevelop the former train depot as part of a new downtown campus for autonomous and electric vehicle businesses. Photographer: Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg
Ford Motor Co has made a big bet that restoring a 104-year-old Detroit train station will turn the tide in the war for tech talent that’s hamstrung the automaker’s efforts to outmanoeuvre Silicon Valley in the race toward an autonomous age.
The second-largest US automaker is sinking untold millions into reviving Michigan Central Station, a former train depot designed by the same architects behind New York’s Grand Central Station. As Ford looks to transform itself – from a manufacturer into a provider of transportation services – it plans to house thousands of employees in the crumbling relic used as an apocalyptic backdrop for Transformers and Batman v. Superman movie scenes.
