The American manufacturer Ford announced Thursday the delay of two years in the launch of its new electric SUV models to be manufactured in Canada, arguing that it wanted to benefit from the latest advances in batteries.
These vehicles were due to arrive on the market in 2025, but the group has decided, according to a press release, to “reschedule” their launch to 2027.
This, says the company, is “to further develop and enable Ford to take advantage of emerging battery technologies, with the aim of providing customers with increased sustainability and better value”.
Ford announced in April 2023 an investment of 1.8 billion Canadian dollars to convert the Oakville, Ontario assembly plant, which currently produces combustion vehicles. This conversion will begin from the second quarter, as initially planned.
“Obviously, groups make decisions that make sense to them,” responded Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a press conference.
“But we are seeing an incredible adoption rate for electric vehicles and [le développement] of the industrial chain that we are building in Canada from the mines, the assembly of batteries and vehicles to the recycling that follows,” he added, referring to the foreign investments that are pouring into these creative projects. jobs.
The Dearborn group will discuss with the Canadian auto union Unifor “to limit the impact of the launch delay” on employees.
“Unifor is extremely disappointed by the group’s decision,” responded Lana Payne, president of the union, quoted in a separate press release.
“Our members can count on us to put pressure on the company to explore every avenue to mitigate the impact of this decision on them and their families,” she added.
Unifor, which deplored a “significant setback,” represents more than 5,600 Ford employees in Canada, including 3,200 in Oakville, a plant that produces the Ford Edge SUV for about another month, according to the union.
Sales lower than expected
American manufacturers deplored a lower rate of sales of electric vehicles than forecasts in the second half of 2023, which prompted several groups to review certain projects.
General Motors has therefore postponed the conversion of its Orion assembly plant in Michigan by one year, to the end of 2025.
Ford said Thursday that a design team in California is designing an electric platform that is “smaller, low-cost, cost-effective, flexible and capable of equipping a variety of models at high volumes.”
He also said that the development of its new campus in BlueOval City, Tennessee, is “progressing as planned.”
This site is to accommodate a paint shop, an assembly plant and another stamping plant for the next generation of electric pick-ups, delivery of which is due to begin in 2026.