New Flyer to expand electric bus production in Winnipeg, creating 250 jobs
$70M to $80M expansion aided by $38M in federal and provincial funding
A Winnipeg-based bus manufacturer is expanding production in the Manitoba capital to allow it to make electric buses in Canada from start to finish, with the help of $38 million in new funding from the federal and provincial governments.
The funding will enable New Flyer, a subsidiary of multinational corporation NFI Group, to fully manufacture buses in Winnipeg, president and CEO Paul Soubry said Friday.
The company has a multibillion-dollar backlog of orders for buses, at a time when it has less competition in the marketplace, Soubry said, noting five of its competitors disappeared when demand for buses cratered after the COVID-19 pandemic began.
"The reason we needed and asked for government support from the feds and the province is we've just gone through hell financially. We've got a very leveraged balance sheet," he said at a Friday news conference.
"So if we were going to try and do this all on our own, we'd have to wait a couple of years — and do we miss the window?"
NFI survived the pandemic economic hit with the help of $110 million worth of federal and provincial loans, of which $25 million has been paid back.
It also made workforce reductions of approximately 2,500 positions, all but about 500 of which have been hired back, said Soubry.
The new expansion in the Winnipeg facility, which will cost between $70 and $80 million, will allow the company to build four to six buses a week in Canada by the time it's fully complete in 2027.
It's aided by a new $15-million federal loan, along with a $10-million provincial capital contribution and a $13.4 million interest waiver on an existing $50-million provincial loan, Soubry said.
Right now, the company builds bus shells in Winnipeg then completes the buses at its Alabama facility. The company will lease a new space where it will complete transit buses, including the installation of battery electric chargers and hydrogen fuelling, said NFI executive Jennifer McNeill.
While conventional buses still make up the bulk of the company's production, that will change, Soubry said.
"We create platforms or vehicles that we can have different propulsion systems in, but we'll also build them on the same production lines, so that as the world changes, as the product changes, as the propulsions change, we'll adapt," he said.
The expansion will create about 250 more jobs in Winnipeg, Soubry said.
Premier Wab Kinew praised the expansion.
"This is about putting a made-in-Canada stamp on the buses that bring people to work in Winnipeg, in Toronto, in Canadian cities that we love so much," Kinew said at Friday's news conference.