Ford’s Oakville, Ontario plant will reportedly only build all-electric versions of the Explorer and Aviator, despite original plans calling for it to build five fully electric models.
Ford committed to $1.8 billion in investments to retool the Oakville Assembly site starting in 2024 and while the Unifor auto workers’ union said the site would produce five EVs, vice-president of global vehicle forecasting at AFS Sam Fiorani claims that the site will now only handle production of two EVs.
“They’re shuffling products around enough and figured the EV versions of the Explorer and the Aviator that are planned to go in there will be high enough volume to keep the plant busy,” Fiorani said.
Read: Ford And Unifor Reach Deal To Save Last Assembly Plant In Canada, Will Built Five EVs At Oakville
Ford has not responded to queries about its Oakville plans but speaking with Auto News Canada, director of auto at Unifor, Dino Chiodo, said that the car manufacturer is still sticking with its 2024 timeline.
“They haven’t said on this month we’re doing this, on this month, we’re doing that,” Chiodo said. “They haven’t really done anything in the plant as of yet. They’re doing some superficial stuff — just some behind-the-scenes preparing — but that’s really it.”
While Ford was initially expected to build five battery electric vehicles at the plant, its contract with Unifor only stipulates that the Oakville plant will transition to BEV production but doesn’t specify just how many BEV models would be produced at the site.
The plant currently builds the Lincoln Nautilus and Ford Edge with production to run through until the end of 2023 and the start of 2024 respectively. Production of the first EV is then expected to commence in December 2024.
There’s a possibility that the Oakville plant will also produce battery packs, with Fiorani noting that there should be some spare floor space when manufacturing of the Explorer and Aviator EVs begins.
