DETROIT : Ford Motor Co said Tuesday that next year it will start retooling its sport utility vehicle assembly plant in Oakville, Ontario to produce electric vehicles, fulfilling a promise made to Canada's Unifor union during contract bargaining in 2020.
As part of the C$1.8 billion overhaul, the 70-year-old complex will get a new battery pack assembly operation, said Dave Nowicki, Ford's director of manufacturing operations for electric vehicles. The size, timing and location of electric vehicle production investments by Ford, General Motors Co and Stellantis NV will be a central issue in contract bargaining later this year with unions on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. Both Unifor and the U.S. United Auto Workers want the Detroit automakers to commit to preserving jobs as they transition from combustion to electric vehicles.