Ford to expand large truck production to Canada

DETROIT – Ford Engine will expand production of its large Super Duty trucks to a Canadian plant that was previously planned to be converted into an all-electric vehicle hub.

The new plans include investing about $3 billion to expand Super Duty production, including $2.3 billion at Ford's Oakville Assembly Complex in Ontario, Canada, Ford said Thursday. The remaining investment will be used to increase production at support facilities in the United States and Canada, the company said.

Ford currently produces Super Duty pickups (the bigger brothers to the F-150 full-size pickup used primarily by commercial and business customers) at plants in Ohio and Kentucky.

Ford said the Canadian plant, which is expected to come online in 2026, will add capacity of about 100,000 units a year.

“Super Duty is a vital tool for businesses and people around the world, and while our Kentucky Truck Plant and Ohio Assembly Plant are running at full capacity, we can't keep up with demand,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement. “This move benefits our customers and strengthens our Ford Pro commercial business.”

Ford had previously announced plans to invest $1.3 billion in the Canadian plant for electric vehicle production. Those plans included a new three-row SUV, which the company recently delayed until 2027.

The announcement comes weeks after Farley said that full electrification of “big, huge, huge” vehicles like Ford's Super Duty trucks was “never going to make money.”

Ford said it has plans to “electrify” the next generation of its Super Duty trucks, though it declined to disclose additional details Thursday.

The company said the move supports Farley’s Ford+ plan for profitable growth, which includes maximizing Ford’s manufacturing footprint. It’s the latest setback in the restructuring plan involving electric vehicles, however, the automaker said it still plans to produce the three-row electric vehicle at an unspecified plant, starting in 2027.

The Ford+ plan initially focused heavily on electric vehicles when it was announced in May 2021 during the company's first investor day under Farley, who took the helm of the automaker in October 2020.

At the time, there was significant optimism around the adoption of fully electric vehicles and their potential profitability, which did not materialize as quickly as many had hoped.

Ford's initial plan called for nearly half of its global sales to be electric by 2030, fueled by more than $30 billion in EV investments through 2025. It's unclear how much capital the company has spent on EVs to date. Its plans have changed several times, and its “Model e” EV unit lost $4.7 billion in 2023.

While Ford's electric vehicle unit is losing billions of dollars, its Ford Pro commercial business, including its Super Duty trucks, earned $7.2 billion before interest and taxes in 2023.

The Ford+ plan also included an 8% earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) margin target for the EV unit by the end of 2026. Ford withdrew that target earlier this year. It would have been a sharp turnaround from a profit margin of roughly minus 40% in 2022.

Ford said the new Super Duty assembly will initially secure approximately 1,800 Canadian jobs at the Oakville Assembly Complex, 400 more than would have been initially needed to produce the three-row EV.