TORONTO — The federal government is providing Ford $464.5 million in financing to overhaul its Oakville, Ont., plant to make gas- and diesel-powered trucks, The Logic has learned.

The award from Ottawa’s flagship Strategic Response Fund (SRF) will help pay for the automaker to refurbish the facility and scale its production to 100,000 units a year of the F-Series Super Duty line, which includes both pickup trucks and utility vehicles like ambulances. 

Under the terms of the award, Ford has committed to “create approximately 1,800 jobs” at the plant. 

The federal innovation department did not immediately respond to questions about the contribution, or the terms of its deal with Ford, which effectively replaces an earlier agreement with the company.

The Ontario government has typically matched federal funding or provided its own financing for automakers overhauling or opening plants in the province. The office of Vic Fedeli, Ontario’s economic development minister, did not immediately comment on whether the province will contribute to this project.

The SRF award took effect at the end of March, according to disclosures in the federal grants and contributions database. The innovation department expects work on the plant to be finished by the end of 2029, with the agreement running through March 2038.

Ford had signalled in February that it was “doubling down” on Super Duty trucks, and that Oakville would be part of its strategy to meet demand. The plant produced its first six Super Duty trucks last month, according to Ford’s April sales release. On an earnings call last week, CFO Sherry House said the firm would increase investment in Oakville in the second half of this year.

With the new funding, the Liberal government is effectively backing Ford’s pivot away from making Canada a hub for battery-powered car production. Oakville had been an early pillar of Ottawa’s electric vehicle strategy, but that industrial plan has fallen apart as tariffs and trade negotiations compound a prolonged slump in consumer demand for EVs. 

The federal government had originally pledged $295 million to Ford in October 2020 for a $1.8-billion overhaul of the Oakville facility, with Ontario providing matching funding. The plant had been due to run out of products to build in 2023, and EVs were supposed to start rolling off the repurposed lines at Ford Oakville this year.

But months after the plant stopped making the gas-powered Edge SUVs in May 2024, Ford announced that it would instead make its heavier F-Series trucks in Oakville, pledging to reopen the factory this year and make “multi-energy” vehicles within 18 months. Ford’s strategy relies on revenues from its lucrative professional truck business buying the firm time to turn around its struggling EV unit. The F-Series Super Duty line ranges in price from about $65,000 to well over $130,000, depending on the model and features.

Neither Ford nor Unifor, the union representing Canadian autoworkers, directly addressed questions about the federal funding package for Oakville, referring inquiries instead to the federal government. Ford Canada spokesperson Rose Pao said the automaker’s 2024 plans for the plant are “well underway” and that its own investment in Canadian Super Duty production will now total about $5 billion. 

Unifor members are returning to work in Oakville after a two-year layoff, national president Lana Payne said in an email to The Logic. The plan to make EVs in Oakville was “terminated, in part, because of slow and inconsistent market conditions for electric vehicles,” she said, adding that Ford could have idled the plant indefinitely. Instead, it worked with the union to preserve jobs, “despite a targeted attack on Canada’s auto sector,” Payne said. 

Ford’s new award comes amid high tensions in the auto industry. In January, General Motors announced it was scaling back production in Oshawa, Ont. Last fall, Stellantis abandoned plans to produce the Jeep Compass in Brampton, Ont. Honda is reportedly suspending plans for an EV and battery plant in Ontario. Industry Minister Mélanie Joly has threatened to claw back funding from automakers that backtrack on Canadian commitments. 

The upheaval followed the Trump administration’s move in April 2025 to slap 25 per cent tariffs on light-duty vehicle imports, which it extended in November to medium- and heavy-duty trucks. Ford’s Super Duty trucks would fall under either of those categories, depending on their model.

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) does offer a partial shield to vehicles made in Canada or Mexico, with any content the automaker can prove was made in the U.S. exempt from the tariffs. USMCA-compliant vehicle parts are exempt from the levy. However, 50 per cent duties on steel and aluminum are adding costs and complicating supply chains for the sector. 

Last October, Dearborn, Mich.-headquartered Ford welcomed the U.S. government’s move in the fall to impose tariffs on medium- and heavy-duty trucks. Company spokesperson Robyn Jackson told The Detroit News in a statement that the measure “supports our shared goal of growing the American auto industry and U.S. manufacturing.” At the time, those 25 per cent tariffs gave Ford an advantage over its Detroit Three competitors, Stellantis and General Motors, because all of its Super Duty pickup trucks were made at its plants in Kentucky and Ohio. 

Ford expects a one-time US$1.3-billion refund for the separate tariffs that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in February, House said on last week’s earnings call. But it is estimating the impact of the tariffs on its finances this year to be US$1 billion.

The new SRF award comes with more funding and a lower employment guarantee than the earlier agreement, when the automaker had pledged to maintain 5,400 positions in Canada. 

In 2020, when Ford first announced plans to remodel it to make EVs, the Oakville facility employed 3,400 workers represented by Unifor. The factory’s workforce had been expected to shrink to about 3,000 workers after the transition. In 2024, the automaker promised workers that it would up production at its Windsor, Ont., engine plant as part of the Super Duty pivot to preserve jobs at that factory.

The new SRF award to Ford is a contribution, according to the federal disclosure. The database does not specify whether the firm will need to repay the funding, and the innovation department did not immediately clarify.

According to federal disclosures, Ottawa and Ford mutually terminated their original agreement after the automaker “made a strategic decision to realign operations and shift away from battery electric vehicle production.” Ford never received any of the money, the disclosures indicate.