Ford moving production of a Lincoln vehicle to China amid retooling of Oakville plant

The Oakville assembly complex is preparing for a massive retool and that's causing some other unexpected changes. David Zura explains.

By David Zura

As Oakville’s massive assembly complex prepares for a billion-dollar retooling, Ford Motor Company has revealed that for the first time ever, a Lincoln-branded vehicle assembled in China will be sold in the American market.

That vehicle, the Lincoln Nautilus, until now had been built here at the sprawling plant in Oakville and shipped to the United States.

Ford revealed the plan just days after announcing a $1.8 billion investment to transform Oakville Assembly into a state-of-the-art Electric Vehicle and Battery plant.

“To prepare for production of the next-generation EVs, we will need to move Nautilus production. With all our plants utilized in North America with product, this move makes good business sense, allowing us to leverage manufacturing efficiencies as we already build the Nautilus in China today,” a Ford spokesperson said in a written statement to CityNews.

Peter Frise, the Associate Dean – Professional Programs Professor at the University of Windsor, founded Canada’s first program in automotive engineering 25 years ago. He said he believes Ford is being genuine when it says there’s nowhere else to build this particular model.

“I’d be concerned if the other factory was retooling and we weren’t,” said Frise. “Bringing in a vehicle from China that is going out of production here, really suggests that the Chinese plant may be building a vehicle that has no future.”

“During the time that the plant is being retooled, there’s really no practical way to continue to build vehicles in it. So, if they want to continue to sell that model of vehicle, they have to have an alternate source and so it’s standard practice to move production around the world, to have more than one source of a given vehicle,” he explained.

Although it’s unclear how many employees will be on furlough during the retooling, the company says salaried, skilled trades and some production employees will continue working.

Employees will also undergo skills development training with production employees expected to be back to work by the end of 2024.

“Retooling a big assembly plant is a huge task,” Frise added.

Oakville Mayor Rob Burton said Ford made the decision two years ago to keep the plant in the city, rather than move it to Mexico.

“I recall as chair of the Ontario Auto Mayors feeling a great deal of happiness and pride,” said Burton.

He is encouraged by the future plans for the plant as well.

“The Ford plant is the largest employer and probably the largest taxpayer in the Town of Oakville and it employs thousands of people. And the spinoff from the plant is probably 10 times the number of people that work there.”

In a written reply to CityNews, a spokesperson for Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation & Trade said the Ministry does not comment on decisions made by private companies but added $25 billion in auto investments have been attracted to the province.

“The $1.8 billion site transformation, which includes both vehicle and battery assembly at the Oakville Assembly Complex, will begin mid-2024 to build next-generation passenger electric vehicles in 2025,” Unifor added in a statement to CityNews.

Both the provincial and federal governments agreed to provide $295 million in funding to secure the Ford investment. The plant currently has about 3,600 employees.

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