A line worker works on a car at Ford Motor plant in Oakville, Ont., on Friday, January 4, 2013. Ford Motor Co. says it will invest $1.8 billion in its Oakville Assembly Complex to turn it into an electric vehicle production hub. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Ford Motor Co. has revealed details of its plan to spend $1.8 billion an its Oakville Assembly Complex to turn it into an electric vehicle production hub.
The automaker says it will start retooling the Ontario complex in the second quarter of 2024 and being producing electric vehicles in 2025.
General Motors is already producing electric delivery vans in Canada, but Ford says this is the first time a full-line automaker has announced plans to produce passenger EVs in Canada for the North American market.
Ford says the transformation of the Oakville site, to be renamed the Oakville Electric Vehicle Complex, will include a new 407,000 square-foot battery plant where parts from U.S. operations will be assembled into battery packs.
The investment was first announced in 2020 as part of union negotiations with the company, with workers seeking long-term production commitments and the Detroit Three automakers eventually agreeing to invest in Canadian operations in concert with spending agreements with the Ontario and federal governments.
The money is just the latest in a wave of EV spending commitments in Canada, including Volkswagen announcing in March it would build a battery cell plant in St. Thomas, Ont.
Ford didn’t specify in the release which models it planned to produce at the complex.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 11, 2023.
