General Motors announced late Friday that it plans to produce its BrightDrop EV600 light commercial vehicle at its CAMI plant in Ontario, Canada.
The plans, subject to ratification of a tentative 2021 agreement reached with Canadia labor union, Unifor, and government support, will involve an investment of nearly $800 million (1 billion Canadian dollars). Currently, the GM CAMI plant produces the Chevrolet Equinox, GM’s second-most popular vehicle in the U.S. after the Chevy Silverado line of full-size pickup trucks.
GM’s goal is to begin delivering its BrightDrop EV600, which it only announced earlier this week, in late 2021. As a result, the automaker states that “work will begin immediately” to transform the CAMI plant. The automaker plans to continue making the Chevy Equinox at the facility for the next two years, though it’s understood that production of the compact crossover will be moved to another plant thereafter. It’s worth noting that the Equinox is due for an overhaul (redesign and re-engineering) right around that time.
The transition of the GM CAMI plant to produce the BrightDrop EV600 will make it Canada’s first large-scale electric delivery vehicles manufacturing plant.
Those still catching up on the latest GM news announced this week should know that BrightDrop is an all-new business within GM that will offer commercial customers an ecosystem of connected and electrified products and services designed to improve the delivery of goods and services from the first to last mile. It aims to help business-to-business customers reduce cost of ownership, improve productivity and safety, and improve their carbon footprints and sustainability efforts. The initial BrightDrop products include the following:
- EP1 electric e-pallet
- A software platform for fleet and asset management
- EV600 light commercial vehicle, which will expand the GM Ultium platform to commercial vehicles
Other BrightDrop projects in the works include cloud-based fleet management software for EV600 operators and a remote access management system that allows operators to perform remote diagnostics on vehicles, receive safety alerts and install over-the-air updates. BrightDrop says it will also “continue to grow its product offerings over time to include a portfolio of integrated, zero-emissions products,” and is currently looking at a medium-distance delivery solution that transports multiple EP1s, along with a rapid load delivery vehicle concept.
Look for the BrightDrop EP1 and BrightDrop EV600 as they join FedEx’s fleet later this year.
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Comments
This is odd news. I wonder what the impact on employment will be as I do not see the EV 600 selling in the volumes of the Equinox. Then there is the question of where Eqinox will be built. Fairfax, Orion, and perhaps Lansing Grand River are plants with spare capacity.
You forgot Oshawa Assembly which is a large 1/2 used great quality plant just down the road to be reopened by G.M. in 2022 to build 1500-2500 Chev. trucks ,if you want similar current Quality to Ingersol,compared to Mexican Equinox orTerrains that I see U.S. customers complaining about continually on this page especially Terrain build !
I am a GM employee with zero knowledge of production planning but the Equinox is also built in Mexico and it appears logical it will move down there.
I dont see how GM could add 170000 additional units of Equinox in the two Mexican CUV plants especially when one of them is tentatively scheduled to build Evs. If I had to guess I think the Equinox would go to Fairfax which is already tooled for the CT4 or Orion or perhaps both.
No there are 2 plants in mexico building the product and that’s where they will ship it. There is room at the current facility to manufacture both the equinox and the brightdrop 600 as we speak.
Mexico
There at capacity in Mexico especially if the Blazer plant build Evs as rumored.
Everyone needs to eat and have a job. Trade is a two way street. More is achievable economically if we do business beyond our borders.
Maybe the Equinox is going to Oshawa.
T1 pickups are headed to Oshawa.
https://gmauthority.com/blog/2020/11/pickup-production-to-return-at-oshawa-assembly-as-gm-canada-reaches-tentative-deal-with-union/
I know that old news, I’m talking additional production.
I’m guessing a 4 way trade. Where
1. Next gen GMC Acadia is moved to Lansing/Delta township (already announced by GM)
2. Some Chevy Blazer production is moved to Spring Hill (allowing for more highend options & eliminating the need for layoffs at Spring Hill)
3. Freeing up room for more Equinox production at Ramos Arizpe
4. CAMI
We do know that Spring Hill will build the Cadillac Lyriq in a little over a year and I would assume would follow that up with more electric Caddys – they are spending $2 Billion to upgrade the plant so it better build more than one new model! Automotive News thinks they will also build an Acura EV. So, I don’t know if Spring Hill will have any spare capacity. Ramos Arizpe will supposedly get the Honda EV in a few years as well.
GM has their hands full moving the “chess pieces” around as they try to balance existing ICE vehicle production with new EV production for both themselves and Honda/Acura.
Cami is currently only running 2 shifts and not at full speed either. They have the floor space and shift capacity to manufacture both the equinox and the brightdrop 600 at the same time. This will allow them to still maintain the excellent reputation and build quality that cami has continued to produce year after year and lead the GM facilities worldwide in almost every meaningful metric GM puts forth and measures its facilities by.
To be honest this truck should keep the plant very busy as many companies are looking for reliable EV delivery.
If GM provide antiquated support to these companies they will make a fortune with thes3 and various other versions not just locally but globally.
Why everyone forget GMK? I’m expecting the CAMI equinox’s production has moved to korea, Especially Bupyeong.
A lot of labor issues in south Korea.
Could also have Honda build it in Marysville Ohio.
The Equinox is going to the Mexico plants in 2023 the Cami plant will be retooled and running 3 shifts making 4 EV600 per hour…
I would love to see Oshawa start building the Equinox,I love the way this vehicle its a great looking vehicle.I love Chevrolet and hope to own a Equinox.Gm has dropped Too many of their Cars,Dont want to see the the Equinox get dropped
It would be nice to see A GM vehicle built in the US.I think Canada builds a good vehicle Oshawa Ontario built a Lumina i owned great it would be great to see them getting the Equinox Retired GM employee Rochester NY
It would Make sense to to build the Equinox at Oshawa and CAMI Assembly Plant.I had a chevy lumina built in Oshawa .They did a Great job building my car Cami Assembly plant is putting out a great vehicle also.Keep up the good work.