Another fire broke out Thursday morning at a major aluminum plant supplying Ford Motor Co.'s full-size pickup trucks, sending down shares of the automaker.

Aluminum makes up the bodies of the F-Series trucks, the country's best-selling vehicles that drive the company's earnings. Atlanta-based Novelis Inc.'s Oswego, New York, plant accounts for roughly 40% of the U.S. auto industry's aluminum sheet metal, analysts have said.

A late-night fire on Sept. 16 at the same plant damaged a building with the company's hot mill that supplies the aluminum sheets for automakers, rendering it unusable. The disruption resulted in Ford lowering its 2025 annual earnings guidance with expectations the fire will cost it as much as $1 billion this year and next, canceling shifts and production at full-size SUV and truck plants and halting assembly of the F-150 Lightning electric truck until further notice.

The Nov. 20 fire started around 8:45 a.m. The fire was out by afternoon and everyone working at the plant was evacuated without injury. After multiple local departments responded, crews are remaining on-site to monitor, but it's too early to comment on production impacts, Novelis spokesperson Julie Groover said in an email.

Ford spokesperson Ursula Muller said in a statement that the company is aware of the situation and is working with Novelis to learn more.

Ford shares closed down 3.7% to $12.41.

The automaker said last month after the September fire it expects to see production disruptions for trucks and SUVs, costing it $1.5 billion to $2 billion on fourth-quarter operating earnings. But with ample inventory, Kumar Galhotra, the Blue Oval's chief operating, said consumers shouldn't be affected.

Ford Chief Financial Officer Sherry House said this week at Barclays Global Auto and Mobility Tech Conference that efforts to resume work at the Novelis site were “on track” with the expectation the facility would restart around Thanksgiving or early December.

To recover lost production from the fire, Ford has said it will increase its F-Series volume by more than 50,000 trucks in 2026 starting in the first quarter. That includes 45,000 more trucks at Dearborn Truck Plant with a new third crew of 1,200 employees.

Elsewhere at the Ford Rouge Complex, the company will add 90 employees at Dearborn Stamping Plant and 80 employees at Dearborn Diversified Manufacturing Plant to support the increase. Meanwhile, hourly employees at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center were to transfer to Dearborn Truck as all-electric F-150 Lightning production remains paused to prioritize the gas-powered and hybrid F-150s that are more profitable and use less aluminum. Reports have suggested Ford may be contemplating ending Lightning production for good.

Kentucky Truck Plant also aims to increase its F-Series Super Duty assembly line speed by one job per hour with the addition of more than 100 employees. Ford will invest $60 million in the site for training and other efforts to increase the line speed.

©2025 www.detroitnews.com. Visit at detroitnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.