Ford to start making F-Series Super Duty pickups at plant in Canada to keep up with demand

DETROIT (AP) — Ford plans to start making its F-Series Super Duty pickups at a plant in Ontario, Canada beginning in 2026 in order to keep up with customer demand for the vehicle.

The automaker said Thursday that it plans to invest about $3 billion to expand Super Duty production. This includes $2.3 billion to install assembly and integrated stamping operations at the Oakville facility in Canada.

The plant will produce up to 100,000 units of the pickups. Ford Motor Co. also makes the Super Duty pickups at plants in Kentucky and Ohio, which are operating at full capacity.

The Kentucky and Ohio plants produced more than 200,000 Super Duty trucks during the first half of this year, Ford said.

“There is durable demand for Super Duty from Ford Pro customers as spending on infrastructure and related construction activity remains high,” Ford Pro CEO Ted Cannis said in a statement. “Many retail customers have not been able to get their trucks fast enough because of our production constraints. Unlocking Super Duty volume will also support businesses and tradespeople who rely on these trucks and first responders who serve their communities.”

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The investment preserves about 1,800 jobs in Oakville, plus Ford will add 150 workers at a Windsor, Ontario, engine plant and about 70 positions at some U.S. component factories.

Sales of Ford’s F-Series pickup, the most popular vehicle in the U.S., were down 8% during the first half of the year, which Ford has attributed to the changeover of factories to a new version of the F-150. About 42% of the pickups Ford produced from January through June were Super Dutys, the heavy-duty version of the trucks.

Ford’s statement said commercial customers have placed a high number of orders for Super Duty trucks since the company recently launched a new model. “Demand from Ford Pro customers is higher than what Ford can produce now,” the statement said.

Unifor, the union representing Canadian auto workers, said the new plan for the Oakville plant near Toronto addresses the union’s concerns about the factory’s future. The old plan to build an electric SUV with three rows of seats delayed production at the plant “for a period that was too long, too disruptive, and too harmful to accept,” Unifor National President Lana Payne said in a statement.

Ford said it will announce later where the new three-row electric SUV will be built.