Ford is set to resume production at one of its Canadian assembly plants near Toronto — undeterred by U.S. tariffs that have caused other automakers to scale back their operations in Canada. A spokesperson for The Blue Oval said that Ford’s $2.2 billion retooling project at the Oakville Assembly Complex is proceeding as planned, and the comapny expectts to build its first F-Series Super Duty pickups there next year.
Initially, Ford was going to build a three-row EV in Oakville, but that plan was killed in mid-2024. Instead, the company decided to add production capacity for the F-Series Super Duty. It currently builds them at plants in Ohio and Kentucky, but can’t come close to keeping up with demand. It’s projected that Ford will build about 80,000 trucks per year at Oakville From Automotive News:
Pressing ahead with the retool puts Ford’s tariff strategy at odds with other members of the Detroit Three in Canada. Stellantis paused its retooling project at its Brampton Assembly Plant in February as tariff uncertainty mounted, and has since shifted the Jeep Compass program planned for the Toronto-area plant to the United States. General Motors said it will eliminate the third shift at its Oshawa Assembly Plant next year in response to tariffs.
Ford, meantime, has barreled ahead with construction in Oakville.
In a recent memo to unionized staff at the plant, Oakville Plant Manager Kyle Cruji said the exterior of the site’s new stamping plant is nearly complete, with interior work underway to clear the way for equipment. In the notice to workers at the plant, which Unifor Local 707 shared with membership Dec. 9, Cruji said the company is working through the equipment purchase process for the plant’s body and final assembly areas.
The bulk of the plant’s workforce of roughly 3,200 hourly staffers has been on layoff since spring 2024, when the final Ford Edge rolled off the line.
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Tariffs of 25 per cent on medium and heavy-duty trucks entering the United States complicate the assembly picture for Ford in Oakville, but do not derail its plans, [an analyst] said.
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While Ford will begin with gasoline and diesel-powered Super Duty production at the Canadian plant, the automaker has signaled alternative powertrains will follow. The current retooling project will pave the way for a “fully flexible” plant capable of building “multienergy” Super Duty pickups starting with the next generation in the late 2020s, the company said when launching the program in 2024.
Ford’s wider pickup lineup is also moving in this direction. As it canceled the F-150 Lightning program Dec. 15, the company said it would build an extended-range electric version of the popular pickup. The technology, which Ford said is coming to its larger trucks and SUVs, relies on electric motors to turn the wheels, but has a gasoline generator to power the motors.
There is still a lot that remains unclear about the situation at Oakville. Back in 2024, Ford said it would build up to 100,000 trucks annually at the plant while employing about 1,800 workers. That works out to be just over half of its previous workforce.
The capacity of the plant also leaves room for future products. In 2023, the site built about 160,000 vehicles, and before the Pandemic, it was cranking out about 250,000 vehicles per year.
