Detroit — Ford Motor Co.'s North America chief expressed optimism yesterday that a proposal to invest more than $1-billion to revitalize the auto maker's Oakville, Ont., operation will go ahead, and he hopes to have a business case in place within four months.

"The ball's in our court," Jim Padilla, president of Ford North America, said in an interview here yesterday. "We have the lead."

The auto maker has proposed a redevelopment of the Oakville Assembly Plant later this in this decade that would turn the landmark operation into a leading-edge, flexible assembly plant capable of manufacturing several vehicle models off more than one platform, or chassis.

"I think we'll come up with a very good solution," Mr. Padilla said at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. "That's the right place to invest. We'll get it done."

The issues involved in developing a business case for approval internally at Ford include what product will be appropriate, the size of the investment and the cost structure, he said.

The recent steep rise in the value of the Canadian dollar against the U.S. currency doesn't help the case, he said, but it won't be a critical factor in the final decision.

He also reiterated that government assistance to redevelop the Oakville site will be necessary. He pointed to investments made by Ford in Mexico and in Michigan recently, both of which were aided greatly by government assistance.

"They're going to be an important part of the equation," he said of the Ontario and federal governments.

The Oakville project was one of two major investment proposals the Canadian Auto Workers union extracted from auto makers during contract talks in 2002. A proposal by the Chrysler group of DaimlerChrysler AG to build a flexible plant in Windsor, Ont., was cancelled last year, leading parts makers, union officials and industry analysts to declare the Oakville project even more crucial to the future of manufacturing jobs in Canada.

Industry officials have cited a flood of investment to the U.S. South as justification for calls for Ottawa and Ontario to offer incentives to make sure Canada wins new investments and make sure the plants already here remain open.

Ford is preparing to close the Ontario Truck Plant that sits next door to the Oakville Assembly Plant — one of three assembly operations to close in Canada in about a three-year span.

The CAW has done its part in helping secure the Oakville Assembly Plant project, Mr. Padilla said. The launch of the Freestar minivan there has gone extremely well, he added.

Industry sources and observers have said Oakville is competing against a Ford plant in Atlanta for two sport utility vehicles that Ford will manufacture later in the decade. Some industry sources have said the company has committed those products to Atlanta, although no announcement has been made.

Mr. Padilla said he doesn't like to play off one plant against another or one government against another when it comes to new investments.

But to get an idea of what Oakville is up against, he said observers should examine which plants in Ford's North American operations have had no new product identified for them yet. That list includes Atlanta and some other U.S. plants.

Plants that have been identified for Ford's new flexible manufacturing system include a facility in Chicago and the Rouge River operation founded by Henry Ford that early in the 20th century was the world's largest industrial site.

A new assembly plant on that site is scheduled to begin manufacturing the new version of Ford's F-series pickup trucks later this year, which is why the Ontario Truck Plant is scheduled to close.