Employees working at General Motors‘ pickup truck assembly plants in the United States are concerned about the automaker’s decision to begin producing trucks at the GM Oshawa Assembly plant in Canada.
GM announced this week that it would invest between $1 billion and $1.3 billion in the GM Oshawa Assembly plant in order to begin producing the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks there. The major investment will go towards the construction of a new body shop and flexible assembly module, along with other miscellaneous upgrades.
Rich LeTourneau, UAW plant chairman at the GM Fort Wayne Assembly plant in Indiana, told The Detroit News this week that he’s concerned about GM’s decision to begin building trucks in Oshawa, as one of the plants will likely have to be shut down if demand for the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra begins to taper.
“It’s not a concern today or tomorrow, but in the next year and a half,” LeTourneau told the newspaper. “It’s when the market is not peaking anymore. I know how this works when you have too many plants budgeted the same. There has to be a volume reduction somewhere. Where does that hit?”
The GM Fort Wayne Assembly plant is the only place that the light-duty versions of the popular Silverado and Sierra trucks are built. GM has had trouble fulfilling customer demand for the trucks since introducing the redesigned versions for the 2019 model year, forcing it to seek out a second production site. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the issue, as well, with GM forced to shut down many of its plants as demand for the trucks remained high. The headaches remained even after its plants reopened in late May, with GM experiencing a high degree of worker absenteeism at many of its American facilities.
Jerry Dias, president of the Canadian labor union that represents workers at Oshawa Assembly, said the pandemic sent GM searching for ways to increase pickup truck production without having to shut down Fort Wayne Assembly for upgrades that would increase its hourly production capacity.
“Showrooms are sitting at less than 50% of what they would like to be,” Dias said. “The pandemic has thrown a curve into the auto industry, so they are looking for opportunities to maximize the capacity.”
Production of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra is expected to begin at Oshawa Assembly sometime next year. The investment is still subject to the ratification of the tentative agreement between GM and Canadian labor union Unifor.
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Comments
Did the Silao and Flint plants change over to 2500+ models only with the new generation? I was under the impression all 3 plants (Ft Wayne, Flint, Silao) were all making 1500-3500 models, with some restrictions on cab configuration at each one. If Ft Wayne is single source for half tons that would be news to me.
Some trivia on the Ft Wayne plant, original blueprints called for the plant to be twice as big. Phase 2 was intended to be a mirror image of the original factory, with the power plant sitting between the 2. They actually sell power back to the city from their plant since it was sized to support a bigger operation (or at least used to, may have downsized when they went away from coal). The 2nd plant sounded crazy until now when all the sudden they are desperate for more capacity. I think it’s pretty much impossible to execute that plan now though as the factory has sprawled over the years with new body shops, pre paint, warehouses, etc. And there’s these things called wetlands that governments care about now (that’s a different story, Ft Wayne has had all sorts of fun with that).
I know Sialo always built some 2500s but as far as I know, Flint has been the source of all 3500s and 2500 Crew Cabs in recent history.
Flint is doing all HD production right now. Not sure if Ft Wayne sees any of it. No HDs come from or have ever come from Silao that I’ve ever seen.
T1 1500 from Silao are 1500 regular cab and 1500 crew cab.
oshawa is rich with history for the creation of GM. it was one of there largest plants during the 70s with some 23500 workers ..Canada is Gm s second largest market so it is only fitting Oshawa was chosen to product some product!
Exactly. Every succesful global automaker strategically builds vehicles in the countries where there are significant sales. That’s why there are expanding Toyota, BMW, Hyundai, etc assembly plants in the USA and why GM shoild assemble some Pickup’s in the signifsignificant Canadian market.
Another BS fluff piece on the part of one of Detroit’s crap newspapers. Before the Great Recession, GM had 7 plants building full size trucks, now they have 4, with Oshawa it will be 5. GM could afford to even add additional capacity for its full size SUVs. I would not be surprised to see Ford and FCA add additional truck capacity.
Why should number of plants = capacity? Having 5 plants making similar products just screams of inefficiency and legacy systems. Toyota has only one Tundra plant in the world.
And how many tundra does Toyota make? Oh yeah 1/4 of what GM builds. Toyota also builds the mid sized truck at the same plant I believe. Toyota plant can be considered “new” compared to the GM plants.
and I thought Toyota only built Taxis.
Capacity has no relationship to number of plants. Plants does not equal lines.
GM didn’t, have enough capacity for midsize SUVs in 2003, Moraine, OH and OKC couldn’t build enough Trailblazers and Envoys. GM spent $750 million in 2001 to up grade a 22yr old car factory to make SUVs, a tornado hit the plant in 2003 and it was repaired in just 6 weeks. Less than 3 years later, GM closed one the their best factories in early 2006. Demand had fallen and two new factories were opening that year, Delta Township in Lansing and a new factory in Mexico! That was 3 years before the bankruptcy! Moraine closed in 2008, leaving GM without any vehicles for that segment. Overcapacity and needed product upgrades have been a long term problem for GM. RAM and Ford are leading in market share gains, GM had better be careful. With few vehicles in their portfolio, they need to update models more often. Elimination of cars in their lineup should allow for more attention to product enhancements for SUVs and trucks. Competition isn’t letting up, the truck market is going to have a lot of EVs. Good luck General!
OKC and Grand River were the only new paint shops in 2001, GM dismantled the OKC paint shop and took it to Springhill after 2006. They were the most modern in the corporation at that time. Oklahoma had offered GM $200 million to retool and they said no thanks. I hope they make better investment decisions in the future, investing in products that are industry best is the only way to survive. Cutting corners, like small touch screens in their trucks has hurt sales. GM market share was 50% in 1979 to less than 20% now. We had the most modern plant in OKC, high productivity,high quality and low absentism. We were the first to out source seat and IP sub assembly in 2000 and they still pulled the plug in 2006. Never say never, we thought we were safe after building 5 million vehicles in 20 years, several JD Power awards and investing 3/4 of a billion to retool for flexible manufacturing. Good luck, it would be great to see a leaner, nimbler GM become the industry leader again.
This is great news really, the flex line built the last of the outgoing and it was looking like a total pull out of Canada for GM. I’m glad they’re expanding it, those plants always were top notch in quality and finish!
It’s just the beginning of the Exodus out of the states since they voted in the communist party who said they’re going to raise all the corporate taxes and get out of gas by 2025 companies are going to be jumping ship good for us not so good for them
What is KC going to build when the Malibu dies in 2023? OKC and KC plants were built alike, 4 million sq ft factories built in mid 80s. Logistically located closer to Mexico, so part suppliers shipping costs are less. Arlington, TX runs max OT to build full size SUVs. Southern factories have an advantage since the midwest and south is where most trucks are sold. Tesla looked at Tulsa and Austin before picking Texas for their truck factory. Leaving the car segment is a strategic mistake for GM, to surrender market share. At least make one world class midsize car for Chevy to build. EVs might be GMs only hope for conquest, but they had better get their marketing department in order. It needs a major overhaul, the new Hummer ad is awesome, but it’s not for your average buyer.
Fairfax was built about ten years after Oklahoma City.
OKC opened in 1979, Fairfax was a duplicate floor plan built in mid 80s. Most Oklahoma transfers went to Fairfax or Arlington, Tx. GM sold the Okc plant and property to the county for $55 million, the air force uses the factory for aircraft maintenance. Tinker Air Force base is home to AWACS and B1B bombers, next door to the old GM plant. They lease the property for $1 a year, what a bargain. GM lost a fortune, after retooling the factory at an expense of $750 million and the property was paid for after the 20 yr lease/purchase was up in 1999. GM doesn’t seem to have much of a long term business strategy, pouring millions into facilities. It makes no sense, that is part of the reason the bankruptcy beacame a reality. The alliance with Fiat in 2000 cost GM $2 billion to get out of in 2005, that is why OKC didn’t survive the over capacity. Instead of being upgraded for the 2008 Traverse, it wound up in Springhill and later built at Delta Township. Europe’s Opel and Saab was a drain on GMs ability to make profits, which led to neglecting core products like Olds, Pontiac and Saturn. Core brands have been sacrificed for the survival of the corporation. Mary Barra seems to have GM on the right track, but the industry is moving fast. GM has played catch up for too long, the past 40 years has difficult. Profits are created by products people want, a smaller GM has no excuses. GMs size was part of the issue before, too many layers of management. NO accountability, GM hopefully has reinvented itself in the past ten years, the industry will only allow for survival of the fittest! Build the best product and they will come.
Ross what communist party are you talking about? That’s a stupid comment. Do you like health care? Schools? Funding from federal to trickle down to things for citys for other things. Where do you think that all comes from. Probably one reason could be they are not only top quality and direct run rate awards for many years in Canada. They also don’t come close to the covid and political conflict and riots throughout the country. With all those things being invited by current president
Very disappointing, Why don’t the US companies invest in more production in the US providing more jobs here, instead of investigating outside our country. That’s what’s wrong with our country.
We don’t need to build Canada. American taxpayers bailed out GM. Keep GM in America. Keep Americans working!
American taxpayers were not the only ones that stepped up to support the auto industry during the 2008 financial crisis. Canadian & Ontario taxpayers provided $10.5 Billion to GM vs the US government’s $49.5 Billion, a more than fair contribution considering market size and population.
Let’s not be greedy. GM sells a heck of a lot of vehicles in Canada. Does it not make sense to build some of what they sell in Canada? The cost of living in Canada being significantly higher in Canada, have no fear that Canadians will actually steal jobs from the US. Mexico and other countries are the ones doing that. Focus on those.
General Motors Oshawa put many people out of a job. They had no choice had to take a buy out.
So these new jobs are going to be offered to people that you kicked to the curb.
Very sneaky Gm
Told them no product to Oshawa. Give them their jobs back first.
Canada’s population is smaller than California. Most of them live on the US Canada border. Makes no sense to build in Canada’s frozen climate when they can be built here. The US lost thousands of aerospace jobs to Pratt Canada. We need those jobs here, Canada can sell ice cubes.
Daniel – What a dense comment. Frozen climate? Try maybe 4 months of the year.
American taxpayers bailed out GM? So did Canadian taxpayers. At a much higher rate per person, I might add.
You’re fitting the stereotype of the ignorant American, perfectly
I am a Canadian Veteran. I know many American Veteran’s. North America is a GREAT COUNTRY to live in. We fought communism together and we lost loved ones TOGETHER. My question is why any company in it’s right mind would build or invest in any COMMUNIST COUNTRY! They do WHAT they WANT to WOEVER they WANT!
I have been a GM Fan and buyer for many years and just ordered my 2021 GMC 3500 Dually which hopefully should arrive in the spring. I invested more than $100. 000 Canadian Dollars on my New Truck. I love America and Canada and hearing Americans Fighting Americans, or Canadians FIGHTING Canadians just kills me. Did we NOT lose enough of our young people in the last war???? Lets be GRATEFUL the past is PAST. Politics are for politicians, It is the PEOPLE who make our countries GREAT! I fly both Flags with HOUOUR and RESPECT!
Please REMEMBER that on Veteran’s and Remembrance Day.
Barry
Man some of these negative comments towards Canada are brutal!! To some of my American friends, please educate yourselfs on the Canada – USA relationship over the last 80 yrs . We have faught wars together and died together, almost 20 yrs ago we helped to get Americans on the ground in Gander Newfoundland when the airspace was shut down during 911 , we fed and housed them and welcomed them , there was no questions asked. We did it because we are bound at the hip and look after each other. Plus the fact we sent troops to Afghanistan who fought and died there to help bring some type of freedom to those in need. I support GM building plants in the USA , it provides good paying jobs to Americans and their families, but for the love Christ can we stop with the constant back stabbing of Canada , the Oshawa plant is more then capable to build trucks with an experienced work force who have proven time after time they are up to the challenge. God Bless our two great countries.
Mike, as a Canadian American and 53 year GM customer, I fully support your statement about the many good things that Canadians and Americans have done together. I am going to assume that I am older than you because you forgot to list the huge personal risk that the Canadian embassy staff took on in Teheran , Iran to help Americans flee to safety from the Iranian Mullahs.
Louis thanks for the added history addition, yes you are absolutely correct on the Embassy situation. I’m in my late 50’s and do remember that very well. I guess my main reason for the original comment was , there are many past incidents that we as neighbors have come together in order to help one another. I have great respect for the US , and have many friends and colleagues who make their living working for GM , I’m not going to criticize the United States or its people. We all just need to work together and make both countries stronger and more resilient.
Berry thank you very much for your service to our country . And Thank you for your continued support of General Motors . I know you’ll be very happy with your new 3500.
Mike, you are what gives Canada the bad reputation it has. Canadians don’t care about America unless we give them money and protect them. So go mooch off France instead.
Daniel, people like you only confirm the stereotype of the embittered, ignorant American.
Thanks for the 1.3 Billion
I guess GM would rather build in a country that can handle a pandemic enough to keep its workers showing up on the line.
Thanks again!
Thanks Mike. There will always be those with different views no matter how much evidence is out there to the contrary. The MOST important thing is when push comes to shove we ALL stand TOGETHER for the good of Democracy and the survival of our two GREAT NATIONS in PEACE. Yes I am looking VERY forward to receiving my NEW GMC PU. I am going to have to break the standard “Male” rules and “read” the manual!. Be Safe and Be Healthy and Regards
Hey Mike, that’s at least half of our country do the math. When that many say you’re a horse you need to get fitted for a saddle.
Daniel, you clearly need a lesson in critical thinking. I know the American education system is quite poor, so your ignorance is probably not your fault… so let a Canadian educate you, yet again.
Argumentum ad populace is an obvious logical fallacy that demonstrates absolutely nothing.
You need real VERIFIABLE EVIDENCE to prove a claim. Not the opinion of the majority.
Gosh, it’s sad to see what an idiocracy the US has become.
Take care – and read a book.