Two fires in late 2025 stopped production of the plant that supplied Ford with most of the aluminum needed for the F-150.
The automaker says F-150 supplies won’t normalize until the second half of 2026.
Stellantis, General Motors, and Toyota are also customers of this plant.
About nine months after two fires severely damaged its aluminum plant in Oswego, New-York, Novelis says it has now resumed production at this site.
This is great news for the North American auto industry, as this factory supplied large quantities of aluminum to General Motors, Stellantis, Toyota, and especially Ford.
Indeed, Ford was by far and away the plant’s biggest customer thanks to its heavy use of the lightweight metal in its ever popular F-Series of pickup trucks.
While most automakers now use aluminum for some parts of their trucks, Ford makes most of the F-150’s bodies out of it, meaning it requires much greater quantities.
Rouge Electric Vehicle Center | Photo: FordThis explains why Ford was disproportionately affected by the plant’s forced closure back in September 2025.
In response to this incident, Ford had to cut its profit forecast and flag a charge of up to $2 billion.
Novelis’ parent company, India-based Hindalco Industries, also lost $437 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 due to the fires.
While the company was able to work with Novelis to source aluminum from the supplier’s other plants in Europe and South Korea, sales of the F-150 dropped 15% year-to-date versus 2026.
In addition, inventories of North America’s best-selling trucks were down 16% in May 2026 compared to a year earlier.
Ford Halts Production of the F-150 Lightning Due to Fire at its Aluminium Supplier
In addition, this supply disruption precipitated the end of the electric F-150 Lightning, whose production never picked back up after being paused in order to free up more aluminum to use in more profitable gas-powered models.
Due to a slow planned ramp up at the Oswego plant, Ford doesn’t expect supplies of the F-150 to return to normal before the second half of 2026.
Other automakers were also affected, as Stellantis had to pause production of the Jeep Grand Wagoneer late last year to divert more aluminum toward the production of the more profitable Ram 1500.
Toyota and General Motors also had to find workarounds, but it seems they were able to manage the situation without too much of a disturbance.
Source: Automotive News
