General Motors (GM) Canada’s announcement yesterday of a new $2 billion investment, which includes a third shift at the Oshawa plant, has been welcomed by Durham.
“Today’s announcement on bringing even more jobs and prominence to the Oshawa Assembly Plant is welcome news for the residents and families of Oshawa and across Durham Region.
I am thrilled to say that, as part of a $2 billion investment, General Motors (GM) will be adding a third shift to the Oshawa plant, bringing the number of new jobs created at the plant since reopening to more than 2,600. Oshawa will also become GM’s only plant to produce both heavy-duty and light-duty pickup trucks,” said John Henry, Regional Chair and Chief Executive Officer for The Regional Municipality of Durham.
“Great cities do hard things; they solve big issues and create new opportunities to achieve success. These investments in the Oshawa Assembly Plant will solidify Oshawa as a leader in the new automotive industry for years to come. The great city of Oshawa has a bright future ahead,” added Oshawa Mayor Dan Carter.
Earlier yesterday, GM Canada announced it will start production at Canada’s first full-scale electric-vehicle manufacturing plant in Ingersoll, Ontario later this year. In addition, at Oshawa Assembly, GM Canada will add light-duty pickup production and a third shift, creating more than 2,600 new jobs since operations resumed at the plant.
Together with the federal and Ontario governments, GM Canada made these announcements at the recently opened Canadian Technical Centre’s (CTC) McLaughlin Advanced Technology Track in Oshawa, Ontario, highlighting the company’s more than $2 billion in investments to transform its manufacturing operations.
Production of BrightDrop’s electric delivery vans will begin at CAMI Assembly in Ingersoll, Ontario in December 2022, following retooling of the plant this spring and summer.
Oshawa Plant
GM Canada also announced the Oshawa Assembly plant will be adding light-duty pickup production and a third shift of production in the coming months. As a result, Oshawa will be the only GM plant producing both heavy-duty and light-duty pickups, enabling flexibility and responsiveness to the North American market.
With the addition of the third shift, GM Canada will have added more than 2,600 new jobs in the Oshawa plant since it reopened. Fifty per cent of new production hires at the Oshawa plant are women, reflecting GM’s focus on diversity in the workplace, said a GM statement.
GM also announced it will sign onto the Canada Diversity Challenge and the Canada Net Zero Challenge.
“Working with our government partners we have reopened GM’s Oshawa plant, creating thousands of new jobs and recruiting a record number of women in production roles,” said Marissa West, GM Canada president and managing director. “Later this year, our CAMI plant in Ingersoll will begin Canada’s first full-scale electric vehicle manufacturing with BrightDrop. This partnership with the Governments of Ontario and Canada is helping GM build a more diverse, innovative and sustainable industry and EV supply chain for the future – and we are proud to be doing that right here in Canada.”
Quick Facts
- GM is transforming quickly toward an all-electric future.
- GM plans to introduce 30 all-new EVs globally through 2025, two-thirds of which will be available in the North America.
- These new EVs will be based on the Ultium Platform which encompasses a common electric vehicle architecture and propulsion components like battery cells, modules, packs, Ultium Drive units, EV motors and integrated power electronics that can be tailored to the needs of different vehicles, from crossovers to pickups to delivery vans.
- By the end of 2025, GM plans to have capacity to build 1 million electric vehicles in North America, and the company targets the majority of components by value to be sustainably sourced, processed or manufactured in North America.
- GM and POSCO Chemical recently announced they are building a C$500 million facility in Bécancour, Quebec to produce cathode active material for GM’s Ultium batteries, which will power GM electric vehicles.
- GM has engineering, manufacturing, sales and office staffs across Canada, and its work supports thousands of additional jobs in the Canadian supplier base.