5 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,July 16,2020 insidehalton.com Visit atlascare.ca or call 1-833-682-0033 Boy, have we been busy! I am very proud of our AtlasCare team for meeting the demands of this peak season while also dealing with the additional challenges resulting from the pandemic. To our customers, we appreciate you choosing AtlasCare, and thank you for your patience. The early months of the pandemic slowed down the supply chains that we rely on to help serve our customers with our usual efficiency. This has made some parts and equipment hard to come by, and we are doing our best to work with our suppliers to get you back up and running as quickly as we can. That being said, we do still have plenty of air conditioners and the most commonly used replacement parts in stock in our warehouse. Stay cool, everyone. Michael Grochmal, President Thank you for your patience The Oakville Ford Assembly Plant's days may be numbered if what an industry forecaster says is true. The America-based AutoForecast Solu- tions said June 14 that Ford Motor Compa- ny of Canada has scrapped plans for the next generation Edge SUV, which is built in Oakville. The forecaster made the claim in a You- Tube video as part of a weekly update on changes taking place within the vehicle in- dustry. "With the demise of the current genera- tion U540 Lincoln Nautilus planned to end production in Oakville in early 2023, the Edge was the only product left at the Cana- dian plant," said AutoForecast Solutions Vice-President Sam Fiorani in the You- Tube video. "As Ford's final Canadian built vehicle, the cancellation of the (Edge) CDX777 puts the Oakville plant at risk of closing." Fiorani alleged Ford currently has no plans to produce the Edge or any other ve- hicle at the Oakville plant past 2023. He said his company received this infor- mation from multiple industry sources, but declined to name them. When asked about plans to produce the Nautilus and Edge in Oakville and if the Oakville plant was in danger of closing, Ford Motor Company of Canada's Vice-President of Communications Lauren More issued the following statement.following statement.f "Edge and the five-passenger mid-size SUV segment remain a critical part of Ford's winning portfolio. Edge sales were up three per cent to nearly 140,000 Edges in the U.S. last year, and the Edge sales were up four per cent in Canada last year," said More. "Customers are loving the all-new Edge ST, with U.S. retail sales up 41 per cent in 2019. We are building on that success with the launch of the Edge ST-Line which is now available for order, plus upgraded fea- tures for the 2021 Edge." When asked if the AutoForecast Solu- tions claim was false, More did not re- spond. Fiorani noted that while sales of the Edge did fairly well in Canada and the U.S., this was not the case globally. "In Europe, sales haven't taken off real- ly well," he said. "When you total up the production in the plant, it comes down to about 160,000 Edges a year and that is not enough to maintain the whole plant. They also have new products coming into Mexico and the U.S. that will fill a similar slot in the line- up." Fiorani said his company has been pro- viding auto industry forecasts for more than 25 years and noted they were among the first to announce the Oshawa GM Plant no longer had products to produce beyond a certain date. "We are definitely a pro-Canada compa- ny," said Fiorani. "So, we are not happy to announce a plant in Canada is without a product." Mark Sciberras, president of Unifor Lo- cal 707, which represents the more than 4,000 workers of the Oakville Ford Assem- bly Plant, declined to comment on AutoFo- recast's announcement as Ford has made no official statement on the matter. FORD PLANT AT RISK OF CLOSING, SAYS INDUSTRY FORECASTER DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com NEWS AUTOFORECAST SOLUTIONS ALLEGES FORD CURRENTLY HAS NO PLANS TO PRODUCE VEHICLES AT OAKVILLE PLANT PAST 2023 "We are definitely a pro-Canada company. So, we are not happy to announce a plant in Canada is without a product." -AutoForecast Solutions vice president Sam Fiorani The Ford Oakville plant's days may be numbered, says an industry expert. Graham Paine/Torstar