Ford’s plan to spend $1.8 billion to build electric vehicles at a plant near Toronto is now complete. Except that instead of $1.8 billion, the costs have spiraled to $5 billion. And the EV the plant was going to build is now gas and diesel-powered Super Duty pickups. Still, it’s good news for Ford and for customers. Tariffs be damned.
Plant Has Taken A Long Route To Pickups
In 2020, Ford was still all-in on electric. The automaker announced that it would switch its plant in Oakville, Ontario, Canada, from building the Ford Edge and Lincoln Nautilus to building the then-planned new Explorer and Aviator EVs.
Instead, Ford announced in 2024 that it wasn’t going to build anything in Oakville in 2025. The Edge was dead, the Nautilus moved to China, and the two new EVs were not going to happen. The workers and suppliers of Oakville were told not to worry because Ford was going to spend even more money to build Super Duty trucks and a new stamping plant.
Ford Canada confirmed to CarBuzz that assembly of pre-production pickup trucks has begun. It’s one of the last steps before full production, and a Ford Canada spokesperson told CarBuzz that “plans remain on track to start assembling F-Series Super Duty at our Oakville Assembly Complex (OAC) later this year.”
Early last month, Unifor 707, which represents workers at the plant, began posting notices of recalls to bring people back. The plant had 4,200 workers in 2020, though it’s not clear how many it will need to build the new trucks.
The investment to start building trucks at the plant has cost Ford nearly $5 billion, Automotive News reports. The figure includes the $2.3 billion investment for Canada to build the new stamping plant and assembly, with other spending going to “several related projects.”
Ford’s new plans have come with more government spending. In 2020, the Canadian government, as well as the Ontario government under Premier Doug Ford (no relation), each promised $216 million in US currency toward the EV project. That has climbed to $340 million from the Feds, though the provincial amount is unclear.
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