Back in the fall of 2020, Ford and the Canadian union Unifor reached a new contract agreement containing terms that went far beyond the typical pay raises and improvements to benefits. In fact, this new deal set in motion some major changes for the automaker’s Oakville Assembly plant, which at the time produced two vehicles – the Ford Edge and Lincoln Nautilus. This new deal laid out plans to retool the plant for the production of all-electric vehicles in the future, and since then, production of the redesigned 2024 Nautilus has moved to China, while Edge production is slated to end later this month. Given the fact that The Blue Oval just announced that it’s delaying the start of Ford Explorer EV production at Oakville from 2025 to 2027, many wondered why Ford Edge production wasn’t extended, but it seems as if such a move just isn’t possible, according to a new report from Automotive News.
According to this report, Unifor workers at the Oakville plant received a memo informing them that FoMoCo “did extensive study into the possibility of extending” Ford Edge production at the facility following its decision to delay production of the forthcoming North American Explorer EV. However, it ultimately came to the conclusion that – due to “supply case constraints and emissions requirements” – that it was best served to continue its plans to begin retooling the plant in Q2 of 2024. According to the memo, this delay “allows us to improve vehicle quality and benefit our customers by leveraging emerging battery and other technologies.”
In the meantime, it’s unclear what workers at Oakville will be tasked with doing for the next couple of years, though Ford did note that it “will work with Unifor to mitigate the impact the launch delay will have on its workforce at Oakville.” “We value our Canadian teammates and appreciate that this delay will have an impact on this excellent team,” Ford CEO Jim Farley added. “We are fully committed to manufacturing in Canada and believe this decision will help us build a profitably growing business for the long term.” Regardless, Unifor wasn’t exactly pleased with this delay, as Ford Authority reported yesterday.
“Unifor is extremely disappointed by the company’s decision. Our members have done nothing but build best-in-class vehicles for Ford Motor Company and they deserve certainty in the company’s future production plans,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “I want to be very clear here. Our members can be assured that we will push the company to explore every single possible opportunity to lessen the impact of this decision on them and their families.”
We’ll have more on the Edge soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford Edge news and continuous Ford news coverage.
Comments
It’s very sad that the government has forced this upon the automakers with the EV mandates. We the voters need to take some ownership of this fiasco and vow to do better in the future.
Amen, time to put this EV farce to bed!!
Preface, I love my manual V8.
but here is no “farce” EV’s are better in every way, the problem is the US is so behind the time due to refusing to invest in infrastructure that they aren’t very viable here.
Look at when gas cars came out. People complained that it was a fad and gas wasn’t available every where, and they could run out while a horse will just walk slower
In 8-10yrs, maybe 15 depending on how slow we get a proper fast charge network, EV’s will very likely be more logical for everything outside of long distance trucking.
People like to complain that EV is really more dirty, but it’s not. And as the technology evolves it is only getting cleaner. Remember, oil was also very dirty and deadly when it first started to rain put in very high demand also. Untill “those dirty liberals” started to enforce standards and safety laws.
The biggest issue with EV right now is that it’s just to early for it to be right for everyone. Hybrids should have been the big push but the US skipped that for some reason. While every other country did it just fine.
Agreed. Ford got rid of the entire Fusion line, including a good hybrid, and Chevy dumped the Volt when they were very important transitional vehicles. There is still not enough infrastructure for the number of pure EVs at the numbers Ford and GM wanted.
Unfortunately voting for the politicians that are anti-EV is a non starter. The 2 party system really sucks.
We didn’t vote for the Clown 🤡 and his handler’s.
💯. No one wants them, and only a few can afford them. The electricity to power EVs through the infrastructure that’s not yet available, is still generated from fossil fuels. There’s no stable, deliverable, or efficient alternative sources for those fossil fuels that corrupt, no-nothings seem desperate to force on us all.
I’m curious to see a complete breakdown of who’s actually winning here.
My area is home to an enormous new battery plant, and I fear the devastation to our local economy if this fake EV push “to save the planet” fails.
yeah…. this is another mistake. Call it unintended consequences.
I truly believe that if Ford wanted to they could extend Edge production.
Good management with cooperation of Labor can find a way to do anything.
They need to find a way to say yes, and not find ways to say no.
Our 2014 Edge has been one of the best cars we’ve ever owned. Was looking forward to a new one in the future….
In 2015 to 2018 Ford made a change to the line of Ecoboost 4 cylinder turbo engine in edge, escape and f150 and these engines are catastrophic failures many failures under 60000 miles, and they cannot be repaired must be replaced with updated design engine along with serious transmission issues the whole line must be scrapped because of upcoming class action lawsuit and bad publicity.
Was afraid they were not going to extend the build date of the Ford Edge. I am glad I upgraded my 2017 Edge to a 2024 Edge. Thank you Unifor for the great work you have done building the Ford Edge!! Good luck to what comes next at your facility. 🙂 🙂
We upgraded from a 2018 Edge Titanium to a 2024 Edge ST. Mainly because of the Edge being discontinued. It is more fun and gets lots of comments. Also, mainly people sad when we tell them the Edge is going away.
Would be very expensive to restart the supply chain for the Edge. I’m sure the production ramp down at all the suppliers have been going on for months. The production capacity has been allocated to other programs with only service part orders will use the tooling a get slotted production when required.
Chinese Lincoln…..that should be more of a turnoff than EVs
Yep. I’m a Lincoln owner and was playing with the possibility of a Nautilus soon. I will not own a Chinese built Lincoln. I’m afraid Ford is going to find out a lot of Lincoln owners may feel the way I do
To be fair with Fords quality I wouldnt be amazed if quality went up. People used to say the same about when Ford went to Mexico. Meanwhile that plat for a while was it’s most profitable and had the best build quality vs the US ones.
Hello, do you really think they are going to market a Chinese Ford in the USA?
There are plenty of pictures of Chinese Edge, they have no automotive taste.
I moved from Lincoln to Jaguar under Ford ownership and they turned the brand around. Was going to move to a Land Rover Sport but did an Edge ST quick lease in late ’19 so I could catch design change in a year. Six months into this beauty and I said “what more could I want? and at only $52,000″ at the time. I see those LR Sports on the road now and I go ” ‘eh”
Another typical blunder by FORD….they were slowly destroying the EDGE for the last several years stripping features off of it from Dual Horns to Paddles Shifters…..I would fire the big guys at FORD for the stupid decisions they continue to make. They continue handing much of the SUV business to Hyundai and Kia like they did when they dropped most of their Cars…..That’s right, Ford doesn’t even make practical Cars anymore………again, they, Chrysler/Dodge (and GM to a lesser degree) gave away the Auto business to Toyota, Honda, Kia, and Hyundai, and VW, & Subaru.
I bought a dual horn for $30 and my ST has paddle shifters. Calm down guy.
Yes, but in 2019 and 2020, even four cylinder Edges had Paddle Shifters. As for the dual Horn missing on all 2019 and newer Edges, that is a true safety issue as other Motorists can hardly hear your horn when you only have one instead of two. It’s just two examples of Ford stripping content off their car to save a few bucks when they’ve got a successful Vehicle that they were making tons of money on. As usual it’s stick it to the customer and hope they don’t notice.
More PR, doublespeak. I can’t think of a supplier who would turn down additional work that they are already tooled for.
I have a 2007 Ford edge at 217000 miles on it. I’ve never had a bit of problem, other than when it got stolen and they wrecked the front passenger side. I had it fixed. I’m now on disability so it will be my last car if it does stop running. I have always had done all maintenance and take very good care of it.I don’t want to lose it but it’s inevitable 😪
I upgraded my 2019 Edge ST to a 2023 Toyota 4Runner Limited. I just don’t trust Ford anymore.
Nobody cares
That’s not an upgrade, it’s a cry for help.
I have a 2016 Edge, 2022 Explorer, and 2020 F-150. I like my Edge the best. It is solid, very quiet, and lots of room. People that ride in our Edge sometimes remark how good it rides, and that it is better than their Toyotas, etc. I intended to get a new Edge next year, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. I saw a video of a Japanese Edge (I think it was) and it had 3 rows of seating, like the Explorer. Nice looking car.
I think this was the Ford plan all along. Shut the Oakville plant. Disgraceful. No ford EV or Chinese anything in my future.
I am glad I purchased my 22 Edge ST in Nov. 2022. It has 9100 trouble free miles and the compact size for tight parking and narrow curvy streets in my Az city . Easy to drive and rides firm but rattle free. I had several Explorers previously and I like this one better. Ford has missed the market and Farley’s decision to only have 3 row SUV’s is negligent. My sister from Oklahoma was here and loved it. Ready to downsize from her Suburban and I told her to hurry Just hoping smartness returns to Ford and the political climate changes inNovember
The 2019 refresh of the Ford Edge that Ford gave this SUV half a decade ago is so dull. I never liked it. It would be better if they stop producing this dull potato shaped blob right now
Why don’t they build the new generation Edge/Nautilus at Oakville as a hybrid/PHEV? It would seem to me that the tariff situation would make that favorable?
Likely cheaper to import than pay US workers. That’s why everything went overseas. Shareholders want profits, so you have to build as cheap as possible.
People blame the government for production going over seas. I blame the culture of Profit at all costs over quality, bang for buck, and reputation. Greed wrecked our manufacturing, not the government.
I come from a Ford family my dad who recently passed only drove fords and that is all I have ever driven. I have a ford edge and love it. Stupidest move ford ever made was leveraging its self so heavily in the ev movement. People don’t want them and the power grid won’t support it either, we struggle with electricity shortages when we have extreme weather now. Not everyone wants to own a pickup or suv, not sure what my next ford will be since they are eliminating so many vehicles. The price of these new SUV’s and pickups is going to price a lot of folks right into another car makers lot.
Do you remember in “Back to the future 2” when Biff gets the sports book with all the winners of all sports? He goes back in time and knows all the outcomes. I feel like I and so many others had the book of outcomes for Fords disastrous EV program. Demand is dropping, inventory is growing. The niche market that is EV’s is filling up fast. Even Tesla’s inventory is growing. 7 out of the last 8 quarters, they’ve built more than they’ve sold. I don’t fault anyone for wanting or having an EV. That being said, the idea that our miserably incompetent government will mandate it is asinine, illogical and impossible. This round of idiots will cycle through their terms and a different group of idiots will take over. Consumer demand will drive the market like it always has.
while i have no desire to have an EV with the current level of technology, it might be the correct choice for some people such as those who live in dense urban areas with lots of air pollution and government regulation, (ie cities in blue states). But EV’s as they are now are not going to appeal to people in places like Oklahoma, Nebraska, etc, who have to drive long distances and where air quality and pollution are not as much a problem for them. there are just so many things wrong with EV’s. To name a few of the top issues I’d have is: 1- if you can find a recharge station, you can’t recharge an EV in 5 minutes like you could fill a car with gasoline. who has time to sit and wait half the afternoon to be able to be about their business? 2- life expectancy and repair costs of an EV. since the batter is the most expensive component to the car, equivalent to an ICE vehicles engine, its pretty safe to say that when the battery goes bad, the car is probably best scrapped. So if the batteries last 8 to 10 years, thats basically how long the car will last. compare that to all the 20 to 30 year old ICE vehicles still running reliably. 3- insurance companies do not want to insure them as they are so easily damaged and repair costs are extreme. So car insurance on an EV is higher than a gasoline car. 4- shortcomings of electrical grids. Not only will brown outs and other power shortages prevent the recharging of an EV, but many people do not think to check their utility rates from their local power company. In my area, the power rates from our electric company is so high, they have calculated that it actually costs substantially more to operate the EV than a regular car with gasoline. Check your local power utility rates before considering an EV. It might cost you more in electric bills than if you simply bought the equivalent amount for a gasoline car. EV technology is not there yet. Its a bad deal now for most people. thats why they aren’t selling. people aren’t completely stupid. when manufacturers overcome some of the above, it would be worth reconsidering. but the government should not force it so hard on car manufacturers. Let them develop it as the market demands and engineering know how comes about. To force it, hell or high water will repeat the auto industry disaster of lates 70’s and 80’s. Too aggressive government pollution and gas mileage requirements turned once reputable brands into underpowered and tinny garbage. its taken then years to recover from that. they wer forced to retool so constantly to meet the government regulations, that they didn’t have time to get flaws out of designs. the consumer suffered. cars got way more expensive and were less reliable. hopefully we don’t make the same mistake with the rush to EV’s. Make the change methodically and carefully
I had a 2022 Ford edge ST and I was driven off the road by another driver, by they’re highbeams on while I was driving on the ice. I lost control of the car and hit a tree head on. I wasn’t hurt but my wife was seriously hurt with broken ribs a tree branch impaled her. Despite the fact that she was hurt, she made me buy a new one because she said that she believes she would’ve been killed in some other vehicle.
We had a 2016 Ford edge, my wife loved that car, until water started leaking into the cylinders, we traded for a bronco sport, which we love, does anyone have info on class action suit on Ford for these defective engines from 2015- 2018, we took about about a $7500 loss when we traded, of course it lasted just past the extended warranty