ice-capades Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 (edited) Unifor Kept in Dark After Ford EV Production Delay Reports https://fordauthority.com/2024/03/unifor-kept-in-dark-after-ford-ev-production-delay-reports/ Following a new agreement between Ford and Canadian union Unifor that was reached a few years ago, the automaker announced that the Oakville Assembly plant would be retooled with the expectation that the production of new electric vehicles would begin there in 2025. Since then, production of the Lincoln Nautilus has already ended at Oakville and shifted to China for the redesigned 2024 model, while production of its mass market counterpart – the Ford Edge – is currently scheduled to end in late April. Both of those models are slated to be replaced by all-electric versions of the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator, but there’s just one problem – the Explorer EV for North America has reportedly been delayed, though it seems as if Unifor hasn’t received that particular memo. “There has been no official communication from the Ford Motor Company to the Oakville workforce regarding any changes to the start of the re-tool. However, like many of our members the Union Leadership have seen the reports from various news outlets that Ford is delaying the EV production plans slated for Oakville,” Marc Brennan, Ford Council Vice Chairperson, OAC Plant Chairperson, Unifor Local 707″ said in a statement. “Your Union Leadership is taking these reports seriously and have been seeking clarification from the Company to which we do not yet have answers. Our members deserve better communication regarding their future. The transition from ICE to BEV at the Oakville site has been in process for almost four years. Now, with less than six weeks from the re-tool, the lack of communication is extremely concerning. We will continue to push the Company to provide updates so that our members can plan accordingly.” According to Automotive News Canada, Unifor reportedly hasn’t received any updates on this planed retooling since November 2023. A Ford Canada spokesperson didn’t elaborate on the subject either, saying that the company “does not comment on speculation.” FoMoCo and Unifor just reached an agreement on a new master contract late last year. Reports regarding the three-row Explorer EV’s delay originally surfaced earlier this week, and were part of a broader report revolving around Ford’s strategy shift that will now focus on low-cost all-electric vehicles rather than pricier models. The first cheap Ford EV is slated to be a crossover with a $25k price tag that is expected to launch in late 2026, and it will also reportedly be built at the Louisville Assembly plant. Edited March 21 by ice-capades Additional Content Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oac98 Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 (edited) 3 hours ago, ice-capades said: Unifor Kept in Dark After Ford EV Production Delay Reports https://fordauthority.com/2024/03/unifor-kept-in-dark-after-ford-ev-production-delay-reports/ Following a new agreement between Ford and Canadian union Unifor that was reached a few years ago, the automaker announced that the Oakville Assembly plant would be retooled with the expectation that the production of new electric vehicles would begin there in 2025. Since then, production of the Lincoln Nautilus has already ended at Oakville and shifted to China for the redesigned 2024 model, while production of its mass market counterpart – the Ford Edge – is currently scheduled to end in late April. Both of those models are slated to be replaced by all-electric versions of the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator, but there’s just one problem – the Explorer EV for North America has reportedly been delayed, though it seems as if Unifor hasn’t received that particular memo. “There has been no official communication from the Ford Motor Company to the Oakville workforce regarding any changes to the start of the re-tool. However, like many of our members the Union Leadership have seen the reports from various news outlets that Ford is delaying the EV production plans slated for Oakville,” Marc Brennan, Ford Council Vice Chairperson, OAC Plant Chairperson, Unifor Local 707″ said in a statement. “Your Union Leadership is taking these reports seriously and have been seeking clarification from the Company to which we do not yet have answers. Our members deserve better communication regarding their future. The transition from ICE to BEV at the Oakville site has been in process for almost four years. Now, with less than six weeks from the re-tool, the lack of communication is extremely concerning. We will continue to push the Company to provide updates so that our members can plan accordingly.” According to Automotive News Canada, Unifor reportedly hasn’t received any updates on this planed retooling since November 2023. A Ford Canada spokesperson didn’t elaborate on the subject either, saying that the company “does not comment on speculation.” FoMoCo and Unifor just reached an agreement on a new master contract late last year. Reports regarding the three-row Explorer EV’s delay originally surfaced earlier this week, and were part of a broader report revolving around Ford’s strategy shift that will now focus on low-cost all-electric vehicles rather than pricier models. The first cheap Ford EV is slated to be a crossover with a $25k price tag that is expected to launch in late 2026, and it will also reportedly be built at the Louisville Assembly plant. This news report has now spread all around the plant and it’s the talk of the town. Prior to this news report we were told that Ford has given no information to the union leadership about this issue. Once I heard the story a month ago about them scaling back I felt we weren’t going to escape that. The union is trying to get Ford to give us some information about this, it’s the least Ford can do. Edited March 21 by Oacjay98 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 I’m not sure Ford even knows what it’s going to do yet. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oac98 Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 Sadly, I don’t even think you’re wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExplorerDude Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 No one seems to know the status of the the 7 seater EVs at this point. I have a feeling they are at a serious decision point about moving forward or not. Edge could get extended again but not likely. There have been some rapid program changes up and down the line. If you like non EV vehicles then you will be excited for the programs back in motion or added to the cycle. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OacRookie Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 9 minutes ago, ExplorerDude said: No one seems to know the status of the the 7 seater EVs at this point. I have a feeling they are at a serious decision point about moving forward or not. Edge could get extended again but not likely. There have been some rapid program changes up and down the line. If you like non EV vehicles then you will be excited for the programs back in motion or added to the cycle. Could any of these new programs come to Oakville? Or are we destined to be stuck in 7 seater limbo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 A supposed Oakville supplier claims they’re extending Edge. Thats the most likely short term decision if all the suppliers can continue. If that’s the case they’ll be looking to move Nautilus back there and modify the current C2 Edge for North America. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oac98 Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 (edited) 8 minutes ago, akirby said: A supposed Oakville supplier claims they’re extending Edge. Thats the most likely short term decision if all the suppliers can continue. If that’s the case they’ll be looking to move Nautilus back there and modify the current C2 Edge for North America. I’ve heard rumors of extension and I’ve also heard some say that’s not possible because suppliers were given the April 26th date. Its looks like business as usual at the plant as I see contractors onsite daily with blueprints and they’ve even installed new electrical conduits and are strengthening the roof trusses. I would like to see the Edge Nautilus continue on with the Chinese version at OAC and a new edge on that platform with a new top hat in Hybrid form of course. This is a bad situation to me, I hope it gets fixed. Edited March 22 by Oacjay98 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oac98 Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 26 minutes ago, OacRookie said: Could any of these new programs come to Oakville? Or are we destined to be stuck in 7 seater limbo? We went from getting 5 vehicles to 2 vehicles to uncertainty. I want to hear what Fords contingency plan is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OacRookie Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 44 minutes ago, Oacjay98 said: We went from getting 5 vehicles to 2 vehicles to uncertainty. I want to hear what Fords contingency plan is! They are probably still figuring that out as we speak. I expect some kind of announcement a week before we are supposed to go down lol. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 3 minutes ago, OacRookie said: They are probably still figuring that out as we speak. I expect some kind of announcement a week before we are supposed to go down lol. listen, I’ve been through this before. You’ll hear next to nothing until they’re good and ready to tell you. We’re nothing more than numbers on a list. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExplorerDude Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 2 hours ago, OacRookie said: They are probably still figuring that out as we speak. I expect some kind of announcement a week before we are supposed to go down lol. To be honest, while I do believe they are at a decision point, I also don’t think the plan has changed at all for OAC yet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twintornados Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 Extending Edge by 6 months would give Ford the breathing room it needs as it sounds like the "EV plan" is still in flux right now...just gotta loop in UNIFOR so the speculation is kept to a minimum. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.I. Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 Ford is dying. Slowly. and what we see are the convulsions or erratic movements that anticipate the end. In Europe, Ford will have almost nothing to sell by the end of the year: Puma, Kuga, Transit. That's all. Ford kill the Fiesta, Focus, Mondeo, Galaxie, S Max, C Max and has nothing this to replace them. The Explore EV for Europe (VW platform) was delayed. The 2nd EV model is not even close to launch. In America the things are not better. The planned EV were canceled (yes... canceled) because nobody wants to buy expensive a EVs with limited range. Ford killed (or planned to kill) Escape, Edge,all ICE Lincoln and now have nothing to offer. Ford is dying. Ford couldn't handle the transition to electric vehicles. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ice-capades Posted March 22 Author Share Posted March 22 14 hours ago, akirby said: A supposed Oakville supplier claims they’re extending Edge. Thats the most likely short term decision if all the suppliers can continue. If that’s the case they’ll be looking to move Nautilus back there and modify the current C2 Edge for North America. Unfortunately, the situation and status of the Oakville plant is turning into an absolute mess leaving employees and their Unifor representative in the dark. If the suppliers for the Edge have the ability to resume production for Edge parts and components, they'd need to know ASAP. In addition, Ford would have to notify Dealers and reopen the Edge USOB (Unscheduled Order Bank) ASAP and start scheduling new orders ASAP in order to extend production of the Edge, which is currently scheduled to end on or about April 26th, if I remember correctly. Of course, it's also possible that they'll end Edge production as planned, do minimal retooling work or delay it for a month or two, and then resume Edge production once they've had enough time to start scheduling Edge orders again. A lot depends on how firm Ford's plans are for Oakville. At the same time, right now it's looking like contractors are on site and getting ready to start retooling the plant as scheduled. If Ford decides to continue or resume production, I doubt that Nautilus production will resume at Oakville. Again, all of this depends on how firm Ford's plans are for Oakville. For all we know, Ford will end Edge production as scheduled, retool the plant for EV production and let the plant sit for an extended period until such a time that Ford's ready to launch production for the planned vehicles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeluxeStang Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 (edited) 35 minutes ago, .I. said: Ford is dying. Slowly. and what we see are the convulsions or erratic movements that anticipate the end. In Europe, Ford will have almost nothing to sell by the end of the year: Puma, Kuga, Transit. That's all. Ford kill the Fiesta, Focus, Mondeo, Galaxie, S Max, C Max and has nothing this to replace them. The Explore EV for Europe (VW platform) was delayed. The 2nd EV model is not even close to launch. In America the things are not better. The planned EV were canceled (yes... canceled) because nobody wants to buy expensive a EVs with limited range. Ford killed (or planned to kill) Escape, Edge,all ICE Lincoln and now have nothing to offer. Ford is dying. Ford couldn't handle the transition to electric vehicles. That's a bit of a stretch. Edited March 22 by DeluxeStang 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeluxeStang Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 I know it's not what people want to hear, but my guess is as Ford scrambles, they'll most likely bring the tooling for the evos/Chinese edge body here, and throw a hybrid system under it. There's no time to develop a c2 edge from scratch, they can't keep the current edge going much longer, and it sounds like these new three row EVs are struggling, and lack any real appeal. Bring the Chinese edge here, rebrand it into an explorer sport because it's boxy styling really doesn't look like an edge, but would align with the explorer name. Shorten it if at all possible to bring it more in line with the edge's dimensions. Ditch the controversial c-pillar if you have to. You'd be left with a boxy, sharp looking crossover that strengthens Ford's iconic nameplates, and looks better than the existing bulbous edge to my eyes. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OacRookie Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 4 hours ago, twintornados said: Extending Edge by 6 months would give Ford the breathing room it needs as it sounds like the "EV plan" is still in flux right now...just gotta loop in UNIFOR so the speculation is kept to a minimum. As Fuzzy pointed out - they really don't care about us or how our lives are affected by giving us radio silence. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oac98 Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 18 minutes ago, DeluxeStang said: I know it's not what people want to hear, but my guess is as Ford scrambles, they'll most likely bring the tooling for the evos/Chinese edge body here, and throw a hybrid system under it. There's no time to develop a c2 edge from scratch, they can't keep the current edge going much longer, and it sounds like these new three row EVs are struggling, and lack any real appeal. Bring the Chinese edge here, rebrand it into an explorer sport because it's boxy styling really doesn't look like an edge, but would align with the explorer name. Shorten it if at all possible to bring it more in line with the edge's dimensions. Ditch the controversial c-pillar if you have to. You'd be left with a boxy, sharp looking crossover that strengthens Ford's iconic nameplates, and looks better than the existing bulbous edge to my eyes. I like your post, my skepticism right now with Ford is off the charts. Just have a lot of doubts any of this will happen 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 44 minutes ago, OacRookie said: As Fuzzy pointed out - they really don't care about us or how our lives are affected by giving us radio silence. The truth is they either haven’t made a decision yet or they haven’t finished all of the internal notifications before they make a public announcement. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 50 minutes ago, DeluxeStang said: Bring the Chinese edge here, rebrand it into an explorer sport because its boxy styling really doesn't look like an edge, but would align with the explorer name. Shorten it if at all possible to bring it more in line with the edge's dimensions. Ditch the controversial c-pillar if you have to. You'd be left with a boxy, sharp looking crossover that strengthens Ford's iconic nameplates, and looks better than the existing bulbous edge to my eyes. I don’t agree with making it look like an explorer or call it explorer. That’s redundant. Same powertrains as Nautilus. I think they should ditch the 3rd row for more cargo room and give it a softer sleeker front grille. Thats easy to do on short notice. That would hold them over until a proper redesign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeluxeStang Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 32 minutes ago, akirby said: I don’t agree with making it look like an explorer or call it explorer. That’s redundant. Same powertrains as Nautilus. I think they should ditch the 3rd row for more cargo room and give it a softer sleeker front grille. Thats easy to do on short notice. That would hold them over until a proper redesign. I'm conflicted, on one hand, you don't want to confuse consumers by having a bunch of different explorer models. But at the same time, the Chinese edge doesn't look like a proper edge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 I don't see Ford bringing the Chinese Edge to North America-why would they spend all the tooling that is going into the 3 Row EV, just not to use it then spend 100s of millions/Billions on more tooling to bring over a product that needs at least 10 years of production to recoup the costs? It would be far easier (and cheaper) to slow the timeline of the 3 Row another 6 months or so to see how the market is instead of knee jerk reactions to a product segment. If Ford feels like they need to keep making an Edge based product, wouldn't it be just far easier to keep the segment empty for a couple of years and when 2027 roles around, make louisville assembly plant the ICE C platform plant and retool Hermosillo or Cuautitlán Assembly for the smaller/affordable EV that is coming in couple of years? I'm guessing Cuautitlán Assembly has room to make more products in addition to the Mach E. EVs are still happening, just not as fast as some people expected 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 1 hour ago, silvrsvt said: I don't see Ford bringing the Chinese Edge to North America-why would they spend all the tooling that is going into the 3 Row EV, just not to use it then spend 100s of millions/Billions on more tooling to bring over a product that needs at least 10 years of production to recoup the costs? It would be far easier (and cheaper) to slow the timeline of the 3 Row another 6 months or so to see how the market is instead of knee jerk reactions to a product segment. If Ford feels like they need to keep making an Edge based product, wouldn't it be just far easier to keep the segment empty for a couple of years and when 2027 roles around, make louisville assembly plant the ICE C platform plant and retool Hermosillo or Cuautitlán Assembly for the smaller/affordable EV that is coming in couple of years? I'm guessing Cuautitlán Assembly has room to make more products in addition to the Mach E. EVs are still happening, just not as fast as some people expected I don’t see the EV market making an about face any time soon as far as marketability and volume of larger more expensive EVs, so a 6 month delay is just wasting time. Either do the 3 rows as planned and live with it or kill them now. The new ones would almost certainly be made at Cuatitlan though not Hermosillo. I seriously doubt they’ve done much tooling yet for OAC. I guess it’s possible they wait and do the new EVs in OAC but Cuatitlan seems to make more sense especially given the low price point, but that depends on what they decide to do with the other plants. The Chinese edge with the high tech interior and hybrid powertrain would do well and would be far less of a commodity than Escape. It just needs to be shorter and retain the fastback sporty styling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeluxeStang Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 3 hours ago, silvrsvt said: I don't see Ford bringing the Chinese Edge to North America-why would they spend all the tooling that is going into the 3 Row EV, just not to use it then spend 100s of millions/Billions on more tooling to bring over a product that needs at least 10 years of production to recoup the costs? It would be far easier (and cheaper) to slow the timeline of the 3 Row another 6 months or so to see how the market is instead of knee jerk reactions to a product segment. If Ford feels like they need to keep making an Edge based product, wouldn't it be just far easier to keep the segment empty for a couple of years and when 2027 roles around, make louisville assembly plant the ICE C platform plant and retool Hermosillo or Cuautitlán Assembly for the smaller/affordable EV that is coming in couple of years? I'm guessing Cuautitlán Assembly has room to make more products in addition to the Mach E. EVs are still happening, just not as fast as some people expected I agree with your closing statement completely. EV adoption is still happening, just at a slower pace than originally projected. The issue as I see it, is even great EVs are struggling to sell currently. By most accounts, this three row EV is a joke, it's apparently as ugly as it gets, and has done very poorly in research clinics, not that research clinics are always the end all, be all of consumer sentiments and purchasing behavior, but it's not a promising sign. If great EVs aren't selling, polarizing EVs almost certainly won't sell either. Personally, I say go with that Chinese edge design to start, it's far more conventional, and less divisive. Build that for a couple of years while you tweak and redesigned the appearance of the three row to make it more appealing, and then release the three row. If this plant was originally designed to have the production capacity to produce 5 separate models in the near future, I don't see why they couldn't produce this new edge, and the three row EV in the same plant, unless there's something stopping them from being able to produce EVs and ICE side by side. Hedge your bets, offer radical stying, and conservative styling, EVs and ICE side by side and let customers decide what they want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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