Ford’s shares were hammered in early October after a “devastating” late-night fire at a crucial supplier raised alarms about production delays. The fire broke out on Sept. 16 at Novelis’s Oswego, New York plant – a facility that produces roughly 40% of the aluminum sheet used by the U.S. auto industrymarkets.chroniclejournal.com. Novelis, a subsidiary of Hindalco, is Ford’s primary source of aluminum for its vehicles. Critically, Ford’s flagship F-Series pickup trucks rely heavily on aluminum bodies, a design choice made to save weight but now a glaring vulnerability. The blaze “caused catastrophic damage to the factory’s hot mill”, which was essentially destroyed and will not be operational again until Q1 2026markets.chroniclejournal.commarkets.chroniclejournal.com. Thankfully no one was hurt, but the incident has effectively choked off a key supply of aluminum to Ford for the next several months.
