Ford will build Super Duty heavy-duty pickup trucks at a factory previously slated to build EVs.
The automaker on Thursday announced that it will add Super Duty production at its Oakville Assembly Complex in Ontario, Canada, starting in 2026. The move will increase production capacity by 100,000 units, according to Ford, which also plans to add jobs and/or overtime at an Ontario engine plant and three U.S. components plants to support this. The two plants currently producing the Super Duty made 200,000 of the trucks in the first half of 2024, Ford said.
Ford Oakville assembly plant
The Oakville plant previously assembled the Ford Edge and Lincoln Nautilus crossovers, but was slated to shift to EV production starting this year. Ford in 2020 said it would allocate five electric models to the plant, with the last rolling out in 2028, as part of a new deal with the local union after the automaker opted not to continue production of the Edge and Nautilus in Oakville.
But Ford has been pulling back on EV plans lately. In April Ford announced that it would delay its next-generation electric truck, known as T3, by a year, and that a previously-announced electric three-row SUV would arrive two years later than planned. Ford said at the time that it was refocusing on hybrids, with plans to add a hybrid powertrain to every model.
2024 Ford Super Duty F-250
Around the same time, Ford released financial results showing significant losses on EVs, or at least the ones attributed to the automaker’s Model E business unit. Model E handles electric passenger cars, but EVs are also sold by other Ford units, including the Fleet-minded Ford Pro. Ford at the time promised more-affordable EVs that could sell in larger numbers, but these will likely take some time to arrive.
Meanwhile, Ford has been spied testing what appears to be an electric pickup with in-wheel motors and the eight-lug wheels normally used by heavy-duty trucks like the Super Duty. But remains to be seen whether this technology will reach production.
