Ford Motor announced Thursday that the company would convert a plant in Canada to produce large pickup trucks instead of the electric SUVs it had previously built there.
The move is the latest example of automakers scaling back aggressive investment plans in response to slowing growth in electric car sales. On Wednesday, General Motors said it now expects to produce 200,000 to 250,000 battery-powered cars and trucks this year, about 50,000 fewer than previously forecast.
Ford's Oakville, Ontario plant recently stopped producing the gasoline-powered Ford Edge SUV and was set to switch to new electric versions of the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator, both SUVs with three rows of seats. Instead, Ford will make the Oakville plant a third production site for its Super Duty pickups, which are among its most profitable models.
Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley said the company's other two Super Duty plants, in Kentucky and Ohio, are operating at full capacity but cannot produce as many vehicles as commercial customers want. Super Duty trucks are typically used by construction companies, oil and gas companies and other businesses to haul heavy equipment and materials.
“We cannot meet the demand,” he said in a statement.
In recent months, Ford and GM have slowed the pace of their investments in electric vehicles, postponing some new models and work on battery factories they had been racing to build. Just a few years ago, GM and Ford expected to build more than a million electric vehicles a year by the middle of the decade. Mary T. Barra, GM's chief executive, said this week that the company may not meet that goal.
Tesla, the leading electric car maker, has responded to slowing growth by repeatedly cutting prices on its electric cars. The company has also slowed its plans to build an electric car factory in Mexico and canceled a meeting between its chief executive, Elon Musk, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss building a factory in that country.
Ford said the Oakville plant is expected to begin producing Super Duty trucks in 2026 and have a capacity of 100,000 vehicles per year. The move will save about 1,800 jobs at the plant, as well as 50 more at an engine plant in Windsor, Ontario.
In April, Ford announced that the start of production of the electric Explorer and Aviator models in Oakville would be postponed from 2025 to 2027, raising doubts about the job situation at the plant.
Canadian auto union Unifor welcomed the new plan for pickup truck production. “We have reached an agreement that not only allows our members to get back to work sooner, but also secures their jobs for the future,” Unifor President Lana Payne said in a statement.
Ford said it still plans to produce the electric Explorer and Aviator models, but did not say when or where this would happen.