Ford will build five electric vehicles at a Canadian factory, as part of a deal with auto-worker union Unifor announced Tuesday, the Toronto Star reported.
Subject to ratification by union members, the agreement is for a three-year national labor contract covering 5,400 unionized works, a Ford statement said.
The proposed settlement includes a $1.8 billion investment at Ford’s Oakville, Ontario, factory for the production of five electric vehicles, as well as an engine contract for a Windsor, Ontario, factory, according to the Toronto Star.
The Oakville factory currently builds the Ford Edge and Lincoln Nautilus crossovers. It was reportedly considered a closure risk because Ford has not committed to new versions of those aging models.
Electric-vehicle production will start in 2024, with the last of the five planned models entering production in 2028, Unifor national president Jerry Dias said in an interview with the Toronto Star.
Ford Oakville assembly plant
It’s unclear which models will be built at Oakville. The Ford Mustang Mach-E crossover will be built in Mexico starting later this year.
The first of Ford’s new-generation EVs to be built in the United States will be the F-150 Electric pickup truck, in Michigan. Ford confirmed that in late 2019, and recently said the electric truck will arrive in 2022.
The pandemic already derailed plans for a Lincoln EV, based on Rivian’s “skateboard” platform and built at the company’s Illinois factory. Ford, which owns a stake in Rivian, still plans to collaborate with the company on an unspecified future model, however.
Lincoln is still planning an electric vehicle, and Mustang Mach-E’s scalable platform is expected to spawn additional models. Perhaps some of these will be allocated to Oakville.
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