The head of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association says Ford Motor Company expanding Super Duty production is great news not just for Oakville and Windsor, but for all of Ontario.
On Thursday, Ford said about 150 jobs will be added to its Windsor Engine Complex when F-Series Super Duty pickup trucks begin production in Oakville in 2026.
The automaker is spending $3-billion US to expand production, which includes installing assembly and integrated stamping operations at the Oakville facility.
Production at the plant in Oakville ceased in May after the last Ford Edge rolled off the assembly line.
Ford's original plan was to build Battery Electric Vehicles at the plant in Oakville, but announced in April that the launch would be delayed from 2025 to 2027.
Speaking on AM800's The Shift, Flavio Volpe says we've seen the market has taken a little longer to get up to speed for electric vehicles, so now instead of having the plant be shut down until 2027 there's opportunity for workers.
"Full credit to the company and the folks at Unifor getting together to say look, good companies correct course and they thrive, what can go in its place right now? And the fact they were able to come together on a plan that has one of Ford's iconic products. I think everybody knows the F-Series and the Super Duty is a product that's in high demand," he said.
Volpe says a lot of times when they go through the electric transition we get really good car maker announcements but for suppliers they're left asking about what it means for them.
"You know I'm supplying 300,000 of something a year on your internal combustion engine vehicle, and I don't know when that volume is going to come back up. And so it's not as rosy on the supplier side through this transition through the end of the decade. What suppliers to Oakville and to Ford and also to Windsor and the Engine Assembly know that they have a solid order book."
He's not privy to the discussions, but talks with Ford and Unifor quite often, and knows they were both working hard to have a better plan than the one they were kind of stuck with two months ago.
"Kudos to Unifor both in Windsor and in Oakville, and their national for saying that's not good enough. And kudos especially to the Ford Canada people who had to bring the case to Dearborn to say would you consider a proposal on Super Duty? And they landed it. I will say this, these are all Canadians fighting for Canadian jobs and growth," Volpe said.
Workers at the Windsor Engine Complex will be manufacturing more V8 engines for the Super Duty.
- with files from AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides