Ford Motor Co. (F.N.) announced Tuesday that it would begin retooling its Oakville, Ontario SUV assembly factory to make electric vehicles next year, meeting a 2020 contract agreement with Canada’s Unifor union.
Ford officials indicated Tuesday during a conference call that the Oakville facility will be overhauled in the second quarter of 2024, idle most production employees until the new E.V. assembly system starts in late 2024.
David Nowicki, Ford’s head of manufacturing operations for electric cars, said the C$1.8 billion ($1.34 billion) upgrade would include a new battery pack assembly operation at the 70-year-old site.
Ford executives declined to clarify whether the facility will build five E.V. cars as agreed with Unifor during 2020 contract discussions.
Ford, General Motors Co (GM.N), and Stellantis NV (STLAM.MI) will negotiate with unions on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border later this year about the magnitude, timing, and location of their electric car production investments: Unifor and the U.S. United Auto Workers urge Detroit automakers to save jobs while they switch to electric vehicles.
Oakville produces Ford Edge and Lincoln Nautilus SUVs. A $50 billion investment package through 2026 will renovate the facility. Ford CEO Jim Farley claims Ford can build 2 million E.V.s worldwide by 2026.
Ford officials said Oakville would construct the automaker’s next-generation E.V.s, which Ford executives said must be more efficient, easier to assemble, and more competitive with Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), which leads North American E.V. sales.
Nowicki said Ford and SK On Plan are developing a Kentucky battery facility for Oakville-built EVs. However, he claimed it is too early to know if the batteries would fulfill domestic content standards for U.S. Inflation Reduction Act purchasing subsidies.
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