Ford to reopen shuttered plant in Windsor, Ontario

TORONTO, March 31 (Reuters) - About 300 employees of Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research) are set to return to work in Windsor, Ontario, after the company announced on Monday it would reopen an engine plant shuttered in November.

The announcement comes on the back of a deal between Ford and the government of Ontario province, which will chip in C$17 million ($16.6 million) toward Ford's C$170 million investment in a new engine program.

Ford didn't say what kind of engine would be produced or when production would begin, but media reports say the Essex Engine Plant will assemble a new generation of fuel-efficient V8 engines.

The plant employed as many as 2,000 workers in its heyday, making V-6 and V-8 engines at one time, but that number had dwindled to about 500 when Ford shut it down in November.

($1=$1.03 Canadian) (Reporting by John McCrank; Editing by Bernadette Baum)