General Motors’ pickup strategy will include the current-generation 2018 Chevrolet Silverado and 2018 GMC Sierra, and their new home will be in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. Automotive News reported on Wednesday that Oshawa’s new products will indeed be the current full-size pickup trucks, but not the next-generation 2019 models.
The 2019 Chevrolet Silverado and 2019 GMC Sierra will stay in the United States at the Flint, Michigan, and Fort Wayne, Indiana, plants. Previous documents stated the current pickups will wear a slightly tweaked nameplate to differentiate themselves from the next-generation trucks; the Silverado will become the “Silverado Legacy” and the Sierra will wear the “Sierra Limited” nameplate. All options and powertrains will remain for the current pickups.
“Oshawa will be building current model (K2) pickups that helps us meet customer demand while we are in transition to next-generation (T1) pickups,” GM Canada spokeswoman Jennifer Wright told the publication. “This strategy will help us meet customer demand as we transition our production and introduce our exciting new models into the market starting later in 2018.”
Oshawa will build around 60,000 trucks a year, according to CEO Mary Barra’s remarks during a recent investor meeting.
The investment and truck production gives the Oshawa plant much needed security. In 2016, Oshawa feared the worst after no additional production was scheduled for the plant after Cadillac XTS, Chevrolet Impala, and Chevrolet Equinox production moved or ended.
Wright added, “The length of the program in Oshawa will be dependent on market demand.”
Canadian union president Jerry Dias also told the outlet he doesn’t know when the truck production will end, but he remained confident in GM’s previous investment.
“They are being very careful about what they are announcing right now. But they have invested a fortune in Oshawa,” Dias said. “Right now the commitment is to the existing portfolio. More decisions will be made.”
Comments
I love the idea of building the current trucks to keep sales up
“They are being very careful about what they are announcing right now. But they have invested a fortune in Oshawa,” Dias said. “Right now the commitment is to the existing portfolio. More decisions will be made.”
Hmm If GM is Investing a lot of Money into Oshawa not just for these limited production trucks… Perhaps this will be the future home for Blazer production?
I hope in a year from now or when the current model production ends that Oshawa doesn’t get screwed out of a new product. That would be very dirty negotiations they made on the current contract especially when all the cars produced in Oshawa are on their way out production with in the next year or so. Lets hope that Oshawa gets a new product and not just the end of a production model?
They build a good pickup in Oshawa. Two of my last Silverados and my current Silverado were built in Oshawa.
Well this is really good to hear, since I will getting one soon from your plant. Hello from Montana, thanks Canadian workers.
Excited to have truck production back in Oshawa , we were always rated # 1 in quality . The Silverado and Sierra will continue to be built with Pride & Passion. Cheers from Oshawa.
I’m excited to buy another Oshawa built truck. Cheers from Washington State.
Does it really matter where a car or truck is built? Isn’t the process the same? Isn’t the procedures of building all the sub structures platform, body, chassis, interior, paint. Aren’t the factories built similar in terms of the way the assembly line is set up and how all the pieces get installed? So wonldnt the same vehicles from different cities be put together in the same fashion?
It should not but it does, because people are people. Ever have really good fries at McDonalds and then one day really bad fries?
I haven’t had good fries from McDonald’s for Long time. Basically now they suck. On a scale of 1 to 10 They ain’t Worth an if you see Kay. Same goes for The fillet of fish taste like It came out of a Sewer in New Jersey.
No it doesn’t the assembly of a car is the same in Michigan as it is in Kentucky or any other place!
Assembly is the same, but the people are different. Do you have good and bad coworkers? Assembly plants have the same problems with people. Your assembly line could have people who really care about the job they do, or people who couldn’t care less about how things are slapped together.
Agree – you could train a monkey to assemble cars/trucks.
Monkeys do not have the brain capacity to assemble cars. That’s why they put them in management.
Bye bye, Oshawa. American companies are heading back home to the U.S. to take care of their own. No different than Canadian nationalism for “Made in Canada”….And now with the massive tax cut in the U.S., there really is no reason to stay in Canada.
Then there will be no reason for me to be brand loyal to GM either.
Still building the older models so GM doesn’t lose sales to the buyers that really don’t like the 2019’s. GM has done this before, some truck buyers, even brand loyal ones, don’t like a too radical of a change when the new models come out.
With the tariffs being put on steel and aluminum and also vehicles it might be very wise to buy a truck built in Canada.