Oakville Ford plant to get $1.8 billion to build passenger EVs

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Published April 11, 2023 at 2:41 pm

Ford Motor Co. is putting a financial charge into its plans to produce passenger EVs in Canada at its Oakville Assembly Complex for the North American market.

The automaker has revealed details of its plan to spend $1.8 billion to turn its Oakville plant into an electric vehicle production hub.

Ford says it will start retooling the local complex in the second quarter of 2024 and begin making electric vehicles in 2025.

This, Ford say, is the first time a full-line automaker has announced plans to produce passenger EVs in Canada for the North American market.

General Motors is already producing electric delivery vans in Canada.

The transformation of the Oakville plan will also include the renaming of the site to the Oakville Electric Vehicle Complex. It will include a new 407,000 square-foot battery plant where parts from U.S. operations will be assembled into battery packs.

Ford first announced plans of the investment 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.

Ford didn’t specify in the release which models it planned to produce at the complex.

 

– With files from The Canadian Press

 

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