Photo: The Canadian Press

OAKVILLE, Ont. — Ford Motor Co. says it will cut about 200 jobs at its Oakville, Ont., plant starting in September as sales of some models slow.

“We have a long-standing practice of matching production with consumer demand. As a result, we are making changes to the operating pattern at Oakville Assembly Complex,” company spokeswoman Kelli Felker said by email.

The company said sales of its Ford Flex SUV and Lincoln MKT crossover are slowing, while it will no longer sell the Ford Edge SUV in some European markets.

The Oakville plant, which produces the three vehicles, along with the Linclon MKX crossover, employs about 4,600 people.

Unifor Local 707 president Dave Thomas said in a message to members earlier this week that the union had tried to avoid the production slowdown that will lead to the layoffs.

“We have been arguing as a Local for the past several weeks trying to persuade the company from somehow avoiding this scenario but to no avail.”

He said the shift restrictions coming in August, which includes cutting five units per hour from the production line among other schedule changes, will lead to the September cuts with possibly more coming in January. Thomas said in the message that the union had been expecting 185 jobs to be cut.