Future Of General Motors’ Oshawa Assembly Plant Uncertain Beyond 2016
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General Motors will cease production on one of its lines at its Oshawa Car Assembly plant in 2016 and has not yet committed to continuing production on the second line at the facility, the Toronto Sun reports.
“The Flex Line (in Oshawa) builds the Chevrolet Camaro, Chevrolet Impala, Buick Regal and Cadillac XTS on three shifts,” GM spokesman Adria MacKenzie wrote in an e-mail. “The Consolidated Line builds the Chevrolet Impala Limited and the Chevrolet Equinox on one shift. To meet projected market demand for the Chevrolet Impala Limited and Chevrolet Equinox, General Motors has announced the extension of production on the Consolidated Line at the Oshawa Assembly Plant. As a result, the Consolidated Line is now anticipated to cease production in 2016.”
Presently, there are no signs that GM will build a product at Oshawa past 2016. Former Oshawa mayor John Gray was quoted in saying it takes “a minimum of two-plus years to tool up for a production model,” but right now, “there is no announced production tool up.”
Mackenzie confirmed one of the lines at the plant is anticipated to close after the summer of 2016, but refused to comment on the second line. Before GM and Oshawa inked another deal to build to the Impala, Camaro, Equinox and XTS in 2013, similar worries were coming from Oshawa and its employees. However CAW Local 222 president Rob Svajlenko says the current state of the plant’s future is “a concern but not a crisis.”
“We are always looking ahead and there will be talks about the gap and product allocation,” said Svajlenko, who was confident that GM will continue with its current production lines until “2018 or 2019.”
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I do have concerns for Oshawa as I personally doubt there will be much production left after 2016, as the wages in Canada are just too high to compete in comparison to the United States or even Mexico. The Canadian assembly plant is on a road like the GM plant in Elizabeth, Australia and all of the auto manufacturing in Australia! I hope Im wrong… I just hope Im wrong. We have a great plant here in Oshawa!
Considering the multiple awards this plant gets yearly, it would be a crime to not build here. And GM still has other plants in Ontario humming along. Why GM Oshawa getting the boot??? Don’t say wages, there is more here then that.