Ford Motors will expand production of its large Super Duty trucks to a Canadian plant that was previously set to be converted into an all-electric vehicle hub. In the new plant Ford plans to invest about $3 billion to expand Super Duty production including $2.3 billion at Ford’s Oakville Assembly Complex in Ontario in Canada, Ford said in a statement issued on Thursday. The company added remaining investment will be used to increase production at supporting facilities in the U.S. and Canada.
Ford currently manufactures Super Duty trucks , the larger siblings of the F-150 full-size pickup used largely by commercial and business customers at plants in Ohio and Kentucky. Ford said the Canadian plant which is expected to commence in 2026 will help in the manufacturing of roughly 100,000 units annually.
Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a press release “Super Duty is a vital tool for businesses and people around the world and, even with our Kentucky Truck Plant and Ohio Assembly Plant running flat out, we can’t meet the demand.” “This move benefits our customers and supercharges our Ford Pro commercial business.” The response of the investors was positive sending Ford stock to a new 52-week high before shares leveled off later in the day amid a broader market decline.
UBS’ Joseph Spak was among the analysts to applaud the additional investment in the highly profitable Super Duty models compared to money-losing EVs amid slower-than-expected adoption of electric cars and trucks. The company announced that it supports Farley’s Ford+ blueprint for profitable growth, including maximizing Ford’s manufacturing footprint. It’s the latest pullback for the restructuring plan involving EVs, however the automaker said it is still hopeful that it can produce three-row EV at an unspecified plant, starting in 2027.
The Ford+ plan when it initially commenced in 2021 initially focused heavily on EVs during the company’s first investor day under Farley who took over the helm of the automaker in October 2020. While Ford’s EV unit loses billions of dollars, its Ford Pro commercial business including its Super Duty trucks earned $7.2 billion before interest and taxes in 2023.
The Ford+ plan also included a target of 8% earnings before interest and tax, or EBIT, profit margin for the EV unit by the end of 2026. Ford withdrew that target earlier this year. It would have been a massive turnaround from a profit margin of roughly negative 40% in 2022. The new Super Duty production will initially provide employment to 1800 workers at the Oakville Assembly Complex which is 400 more that would have initially needed to produce the three-row EV.
