Ford Motor Co. says it plans to assemble its F-Series Super Duty pickup trucks at its Oakville, Ont., assembly plant beginning in 2026, a move that comes amid delays to the start of planned electric vehicle production at the site.
The U.S. automaker said the move would add capacity of up to 100,000 additional units and support 1,800 jobs at the plant to be filled by workers represented by Unifor.
Ford announced plans last year to spend $1.8 billion to transform the facility into a hub for electric vehicle manufacturing, including vehicle and battery pack assembly. But after planning to start EV production at the plant in 2025, the company said in April it was pushing that back to 2027 to give the consumer market more time to develop and allow for further development of EV battery technology.
Ford said some employees would remain on site during the plant transformation but there would be layoffs, noting it would work with Unifor to mitigate the effect of the delay on its workforce.
Bringing production of Super Duty pickups to the Canadian plant means some employees will return to work a year earlier than expected, the company said Thursday.
“Super Duty is a vital tool for businesses and people around the world and, even with our Kentucky Truck Plant and Ohio Assembly Plant running flat out, we can’t meet the demand," said Ford president and CEO Jim Farley in a press release.
"At the same time, we look forward to introducing three-row electric utility vehicles, leveraging our experience in three-row utility vehicles and our learnings as America’s No. 2 electric vehicle brand to deliver fantastic, profitable vehicles."
The 1,800 positions are 400 more than would initially have been needed to produce the three-row electric vehicle following the plant's overhaul, the company said.
"This is the best plan for Ford, and for the Oakville area and Ontario, in general," said Sam Fiorani, vice-president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions, in an interview.
If the automaker had not reinvested in the plant, he added: "The potential for closure is there and getting Ford to come back to Oakville would be very difficult as many of the plants that have closed have simply disappeared from the map."
While Canada's push toward electric vehicles is a great long-term plan, consumer demand is not there yet, said Fiorani.
Ford is spending around US$3 billion to expand Super Duty production to Canada, which includes US$2.3 billion to install assembly and integrated stamping operations at the Oakville facility.
It said the increased production also adds around 150 jobs to the company's Windsor Engine Complex, which will manufacture more V8 engines for the Super Duty trucks.
The move was welcomed by the union, which called the EV production delays "too long, too disruptive and too harmful."
“This new retooling plan for the Oakville plant addresses our union’s concerns," said Unifor national president Lana Payne in a press release.
“Working with our local unions and company executives, we came to an agreement that will not only see our members back to work sooner, it protects our members’ jobs well into the future."
Unifor said it anticipates an electrified version of the pickup will also be produced at the Oakville plant "later in the decade."
Fiorani said demand for EVs is growing but the main problem is excess supply, combined with saturated competition among automakers and lower profits on electric cars.
"There's a lot of vehicles being built and offered on the market for a relatively small number of buyers," he said.
"We're going to see more and more people transition toward electric vehicles and as that happens, we're going to see more vehicles being added to the line-up."
Automakers have to build vehicles that are in demand by consumers and the federal government's move to mandate EV sales may not work without sufficient charging infrastructure, said Brian Kingston, president and CEO of Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association.
"It really all depends on building the support for the customer and ultimately, increasing our clean electricity generation, our transmission and charging infrastructure capacity," he said.
He added that a more aggressive approach to building charging infrastructure is needed for faster uptake of EVs.
Ontario Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli praised the announcement, saying in a statement it "demonstrates the company's continued confidence in the end-to-end automotive supply chain we have built in the province, and in our world-class manufacturing talent."
Ford's spending plans for the Oakville plant were first announced in 2020 as part of union negotiations, with workers seeking long-term production commitments and the Detroit Three automakers eventually agreeing to invest in Canadian operations in concert with spending agreements with the Ontario and federal governments.
The two governments agreed to provide $295 million each in funding to secure the Ford investment.
Federal guidelines are targeting 20 per cent of new vehicles sold in Canada to be zero-emission by 2026, at least 60 per cent by 2030 and 100 per cent by 2035.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 18, 2024.
Ritika Dubey, The Canadian Press
