DEVELOPING Latest updates on the major wildfires burning in Canada
The 2024 wildfire season has begun, and it's shaping up to follow last year's unprecedented destruction in kind, with thousands of square kilometres already consumed.
Ford will increase production of six models this year, half of them electric, as the company and the auto industry start to rebound from sluggish U.S. sales in 2022.
The automaker announced Friday that it plans to build more of the Mustang Mach-E, the Bronco Sport SUV and Maverick small pickup, the F-150 Lightning electric pickup, and the Transit and E-Transit gas and electric full-size vans.
To help increase production, Ford last year said it would add a third shift and 1,100 jobs at its full-size van plant in Claycomo, Missouri, near Kansas City, and another 3,200 jobs related to building the F-150 Lightning which is made in Dearborn, Michigan.
Ford will also hire an unspecified number of new workers this year at plants in Cuautitlan and Hermosillo, Mexico, where the Mach-E, Maverick and Bronco Sport are made, according to spokesman Said Deep. Production line speeds will increase shortly to raise output, with more workers coming later, he said.
For more than two years, U.S. auto sales have been depressed largely due to a shortage of computer chips during the coronavirus pandemic. But the chip shortage is easing and automakers like Ford are starting to increase production and build supplies on dealer lots.
Overall in the U.S., auto sales fell almost 8 per cent last year to just under 14 million, with Ford's dropping just over 2 per cent, according to Autodata Corp. But in February, overall industry sales rose 9.5 per cent over the same month a year ago, according to LMC Automotive, which sees sales increasing to 15 million this year. Ford sales were up almost 22 per cent in February.
"The industry is on its track back," said Jeff Schuster, executive vice president of automotive for LMC and Global Data.
Shares of Ford closed Friday up 4.2 per cent, getting a boost after the production announcement was made.
At crosstown rival General Motors, full-size pickup truck inventory rebounded enough that it will shut down a factory in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, for two weeks starting March 27 to control it.
Ford suspended production of the F-150 Lightning in February after a battery caught fire during a pre-delivery quality check. Deep said the battery issue has been resolved and production will resume March 13 to an annual rate of 150,000.
Mach-E production will rise to an annual rate of 210,000 by year's end, while the company plans to boost Bronco Sport and Maverick production by 80,000 vehicles this year. Transit and E-Transit production will rise by 38,000 this year.
Sales are up so far this year for all the models that will see production increases.
The production jumps are good news for consumers, who have had long wait times for some more popular models and have been forced to pay high prices due to strong demand and short supplies.
J.D. Power reported that the average U.S. new vehicle sold for US$46,229 last month, a record for the month of February.
But as the chip shortage eases and automakers can produce more this year, Schuster said there should be some easing of prices even on hot-selling models.
"I would expect some relief on the pricing front," he said, adding that sticker prices could come down or automakers could offer discounts.
But he said prices will remain high and aren't expected to return to pre-pandemic levels.
The 2024 wildfire season has begun, and it's shaping up to follow last year's unprecedented destruction in kind, with thousands of square kilometres already consumed.
Veteran TSN broadcaster Darren 'Dutch' Dutchyshen, one of Canada’s best-known sports journalists, has died. He was 57. His family says 'he passed as he was surrounded by his closest loved ones.'
A ‘lifetime of abuse’ led Dallas Ly to snap and repeatedly stab his mother inside their Leslieville apartment in 2022 but he never intended to kill her, his defence lawyers argued during at his murder trial in Toronto on Thursday.
A burgeoning track star says his dream of going to the Olympics is being derailed by a deportation order after Immigration officials rejected his family’s claim for asylum
A father has been charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of his 34-year-old daughter in southern Quebec.
A medical examiner says a Massachusetts teen who participated in a spicy tortilla chip challenge died from ingesting a substance 'with a high capsaicin concentration.'
A Montreal father who kidnapped his daughter who has autism and lied to police when they asked where she was should serve three years in prison, a Crown prosecutor said.
The province’s health minister and solicitor general are urging Toronto to rescind its request to decriminalize simple possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use, calling the proposal 'misguided' and 'disastrous.'
To give Canadians a break on their summer road trips, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to suspend all gas and diesel taxes from Victoria Day to Labour Day.
A Starbucks fan — whose name is Winter — is visiting Canada on a purposeful journey that began with a random idea at one of the coffee chain's stores in Texas.
Members of Piapot First Nation, students from the University of Winnipeg and various other professionals are learning new techniques that will hopefully be used for ground searches of potential unmarked grave sites in the future.
ALS patient Mathew Brown said he’s hopeful for future ALS patients after news this week of research at Western University of a potential cure for ALS.
When Adam Kirschner wrote 'Slap Shot,' he never imagined the song would be embraced by his favourite team.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.