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Ford announces plan to build Super Duty in Canada as EV production moves elsewhere

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Ford announces plan to build Super Duty in Canada as EV production moves elsewhere

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Ford Motor Co. says it will build Super Duty trucks at its Oakville Assembly Complex in Ontario and move planned production of a three-row electric utility vehicle elsewhere.

Details on where the EV production will be done were not disclosed. Ford, which, like other automakers, is grappling with a more complicated EV sales picture than anticipated a few years ago, said it “remains committed to developing a growing and profitable electric vehicle business.”

The announcement from the company Thursday morning said that Ford would add initial capacity for 100,000 F-Series Super Duty trucks at the plant. That means a third North American plant, in addition to Kentucky Truck and Ohio Assembly, would produce the trucks.

Ford described it as a way to meet booming demand from its Ford Pro commercial business unit. The company said the move will secure about 1,800 jobs at Oakville and add about 150 at Windsor Engine Complex, as well as 70 jobs and additional overtime at three U.S. component plants, Sharonville Transmission in Ohio and Rawsonville Components and Sterling Axle in Michigan.

“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. This move benefits our customers and supercharges our Ford Pro commercial business,” Jim Farley, Ford president and CEO, said in a news 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 changes mean Super Duty truck production will replace previous production plans to build EVs in Oakville, according to a news release from Unifor, the union representing autoworkers at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis in Canada.

Canadian autoworkers pressed for production at Oakville

“Production at the Oakville plant ceased with the final Ford Edge rolling off the assembly line in May 2024. … In April 2024 the company announced its decision to delay the launch of (EV) production from 2025 to 2027. The delay would have resulted in Unifor Local 707 members being laid off for more than three years,” Unifor noted.

The union said it has been in negotiations with Ford since the delay was announced to accelerate the resumption of production at the plant and push for additional support for workers.

“This new retooling plan for the Oakville plant addresses our union’s concerns with Ford Motor Company’s decision to delay new vehicle production for a period that was too long, too disruptive and too harmful to accept,” Unifor National President Lana Payne said in a news 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.”

The union said the new product commitments would mean an additional $500 million investment on top of $1.8 billion the company committed in 2020.

Production of the current generation Super Duty is expected to begin in 2026, with an electrified version of the pickup coming later in the decade, the union said, noting that “Oakville will be the sole initial source of multi-energy Super Duty production.”

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.

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