Dive Brief:
- Ford Motor Co. is investing $2.3 billion to build F-Series Super Duty pickups at its Oakville Assembly Complex in Ontario, Canada, starting in 2026, the company announced Thursday.
- The investment in Oakville includes installing new assembly and stamping equipment to initially boost heavy duty truck production by 100,000 vehicles a year.
- In total, Ford plans to invest approximately $3 billion to expand Super Duty production across three North American facilities — its Kentucky Truck Plant, Ohio Assembly Plant and Oakville facility — to meet rising demand.
Dive Insight:
Demand for Super Duty trucks is currently outpacing the company’s production capacity, according to Jim Farley, Ford president and CEO. It’s driven in large part by customers that are spending more on infrastructure and construction-related activities, according to the press release.
In the first half of 2024, the automaker’s Kentucky Truck and Ohio Assembly plants produced more than 200,000 F-Series Super Duty trucks, but Ford’s CEO says it’s still not enough.
“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,” Farley said in the press release.
Ford originally planned to build a new three-row electric SUV at the Oakville plant, but those plans are on hold as EV demand wanes. In April, Ford said that retiming the launch of the electric SUV to 2027 will allow it to take advantage of emerging battery technology to increase durability and reduce costs.
However, the automaker says the Oakville facility will be “a fully flexible plant” once retooling is complete, allowing Ford to add electrified powertrains to vehicles it builds there in the future.
The expansion of Super Duty truck production will initially add approximately 1,800 jobs in Oakville, 150 jobs at Ford’s Windsor Engine Complex and roughly 70 jobs at automaker’s Rawsonville Components Plant and Sterling Axle Plant in Michigan. Ford will also invest $24 million in its Sharonville Transmission Plant in Ohio and offer employees there additional overtime.
In total, 10 U.S. plants support Super Duty truck production across powertrain, transmission, stamping and final assembly, employing approximately 20,000 workers.
“This investment will benefit Ford, our employees in Canada and the U.S., and especially our customers who want and need Super Duty for their lives and livelihoods,” Ford COO Kumar Galhotra said in the press release. “It is fully consistent with our Ford+ plan for profitable growth, as we take steps to maximize our global manufacturing footprint, and our investments will have a fast payback.”
