As Ford Authority previously reported, an aluminum plant owned and operated by Novelis in Oswego, New York was recently ravaged by a massive fire, which will reportedly keep it offline until early 2026. Trouble is, Novelis supplies around 40 percent of the U.S. auto industry’s total aluminum sheeting, with much of it coming from that particular plant – and Ford is already feeling the effects, pausing production at more than one plant as of late. Now, that has extended to include production of the best-selling Ford F-150.
According to Automotive News, production of the Ford F-150 at the Dearborn Truck plant has been cut by more than half as a result of this aluminum shortage, in fact. The Blue Oval reportedly told its suppliers that it plans to build around 530 Ford F-150 pickups daily at the plant until October 27th, which is around 55 percent lower than its typical levels. Ford has already paused production of several other models as a result of this fire, but now, it’s impacting the automaker’s most important vehicle.
Otherwise, that list includes the Ford F-150 Lightning at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, as well as Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator production at the Kentucky Truck Plant, and the soon to be discontinued Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair at the Louisville Assembly plant. Ford is working to mitigate the impacts of this fire, but analysts believe that it could ultimately cost the automaker upwards of $1 billion.
Meanwhile, Stellantis is also feeling the effects of the Novelis plant fire, as it’s idling production of the Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer, too. “Due to a parts shortage, Warren Truck Assembly Plant will be idled beginning the week of October 13th for three weeks,” spokeswoman Ann Marie Fortunate said in an emailed statement. “The plant is expected to resume production the week of November 3rd.” However, Stellantis reportedly has an ample supply of aluminum saved up for Ram 1500 production, and is reportedly not as exposed as Ford’s F-Series lineup at the moment.
A simple yet potentially very useful idea.
It was converted to its current form in the 2000s.
The faulty units may crack and develop a coolant leak, causing a short circuit.
A very cool sort of one-off build.
