Ford Motor will spend nearly $3.5 billion...

Ford Motor will spend nearly $3.5 billion to modernize 15 North American assembly and manufacturing plants and may build new plants as part of an expanded product investment plan, Ford Vice Chairman Harold A. Poling says. Ford, which reported a record profit of $1.66 billion in the second quarter, said eight of the 15 improvements under way or scheduled to begin this year are at plants in Michigan. They are in Livonia, Dearborn, Romeo, Wayne, Wixom and Ypsilanti. Other plants to be updated are in: St. Louis; Louisville, Ky.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Lorain, Walton Hills and Sharonville, Ohio, and Connersville, Ind.