By Nora Eckert
DETROIT, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Production of aluminum at Ford Motor supplier Novelis still has not fully resumed more than four months after a devastating fire disrupted supply of the metal to Ford’s lucrative pickup trucks, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Following a massive blaze in September at the New York facility, Ford cut its 2025 profit guidance and said it would lose the output of up to 100,000 F-Series pickup trucks through the end of 2025. The company estimated the cost would be up to $2 billion, and it planned to mitigate about half of that. Novelis said it expected to resume full production by the end of December.
An additional fire in late November upset that timeline. Ford at the time said the November fire did not change its projections for its 2025 core profit. It is now unclear how the prolonged shutdown at the facility’s hot mill might affect Ford’s results for the fourth quarter or the first quarter.
A Ford spokesperson said the company would provide an update when it reports fourth-quarter earnings on February 10. A Novelis spokesperson pointed to the company’s November statement, in which it said it “will continue to leverage alternate sources, including its global network of plants and industry peers, to mitigate impact.”
The automaker is purchasing aluminum from other Novelis facilities, Ford executives have said.
Ford’s F-Series line, which includes the F-150 and larger Super Duty truck, is by far the company’s top seller and generates the bulk of its global profit, analysts estimate. While Novelis also supplies other automakers, Ford is a major customer because its trucks use a largely aluminum body.
The automaker said last year it would increase production of its F-150 and Super Duty trucks by more than 50,000 vehicles at plants in Michigan and Kentucky in 2026 to recoup some of the lost production from the Novelis fire. It has axed production of the F-150 Lightning electric truck, which also used aluminum from the supplier, as part of a $19.5 billion writedown on its EV programs.
Novelis said the projected costs of rebuilding damaged areas and equipment would total $255 million, in an application for financial assistance from Oswego County in New York.
(Reporting by Nora Eckert in Detroit; Editing by Mike Colias and Matthew Lewis)
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