St. Thomas Assembly

St. Thomas Assembly was an automobile plant located in Southwold, Ontario, Canada, close to the Talbotville community and to the nearby city of St. Thomas. The 2,600,000 sq ft (240,000 m²) facility, situated on a 635 acres (2.57 km²) site,[1] opened in 1967, building the Ford Falcon.[2] Flexible fuel vehicles (FFV) capable of operating on ethanol fuel were manufactured there during the later years of the assembly plant.[2] Ford's plans for sustainability and reduction of fossil fuel consumption relied on the St. Thomas Plant and its Lincoln Town Car vehicles for years.[1] It also produced the final Mercury vehicle, a Mercury Grand Marquis, after Ford decided to discontinue the Mercury brand after the 2011 model year.

St. Thomas Assembly Plant

Former site of the St. Thomas Assembly manufacturing plant
Built	1967
Location	Southwold, Ontario
Industry	Automotive
Products	Ford Panther platform Ford Crown Victoria Lincoln Town Car Mercury Grand Marquis
Employees	1,590
Area	2,600,000 sq ft (240,000 m2)
Address	11920-11968 Sunset Rd Southwold, Ontario
Defunct	2011

The plant closed September 15, 2011. The last Crown Victoria built by the remaining 300 employees was sent to Saudi Arabia.[3]

Decommissioning did not start until mid-2015.[4] The plant had been largely demolished by the end of 2016, with only the wastewater treatment facility left standing as of February 2017.[5] An initial proposal to have the site developed as a solar farm fell through when regulatory approval was not obtained,[5] but decommissioning was completed in 2019, with the property becoming available for sale.[6]