General Motors has announced it will commence production of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks at Oshawa Assembly in the fourth-quarter of this year, ahead of the previous target of January 2022.
UPDATE: in December 2021, the automaker confirmed to GM Authority that the GMC Sierra will not be produced at its Oshawa assembly plant, as the facility will exclusively manufacture the Silverado 1500 and Silverado HD pickups.
The automaker began re-tooling the Oshawa Assembly plant in Southern Ontario late last year to prepare it for pickup truck production. The assembly line at the facility has remained idle since 2019, when GM killed off the Chevy Impala and Cadillac XTS sedans, but is now set to come back online once production of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups begins there later this year.
GM invested $1.3 billion CAD in the Oshawa plant to prep it to build both light- and heavy-duty versions of the Silverado and Sierra. The plant will create roughly 1,700 new direct jobs once it is up and running at full capacity. The company has already begun accepting applications for positions at the plant and is currently seeking more than 1,500 production line workers, 110 certified electricians and 60 certified industrial mechanic millwrights.
Right now, GM builds its full-size pickup trucks at three plants. Light duty models are built at the GM Fort Wayne Assembly plant in Indiana and GM Silao Assembly plant in Mexico, while the heavy-duty models are produced at Flint Assembly in Michigan. With the addition of Oshawa Assembly to its truck production roster, the automaker will be able to better keep up with rising customer demand for the vehicles.
“Pickups are GM’s largest and most important market segment in Canada and across the continent,” the automaker said in a statement last year. “They also help GM fund our transition to the electric, autonomous and highly connected future we see ahead.”
Oshawa Assembly previously completed final assembly of the K2XX-platform Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups for local consumption in Canada, but hasn’t produced Silverado or Sierra from scratch previously. The facility will receive a new body shop and new flexible assembly module as part of the re-tolling process ahead of the start of production later this year.
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Comments
Great news, I wonder if Oshawa will launch with the updated models of HD since it makes very little sense to launch the plant with the current gen HD, just to change to over a few months after? I was thinking GM might launch the updated HD earlier than previously scheduled at least on the high end, and then change Flint over after Oshawa is running, to fill the pipeline without disruptions.
Nope. They are building one model of HD Silverado. 2022 models same as Flint.
When is the T1 HD changing? 2020 was it’s first year. There may be mid cycle updates, but not a full redesign for a few years.
The mid cycle refresh is very extensive, new front and rear facias, all new interior, Completely new electrical architecture, powertrain updates, and new tech. I bought by T1 HD in 2019, Refresh was planned for 2023 model year, but I think Ford putting ADAS in the Super Duty is going to put pressure on GM to pull ahead Supercruise for HD’s. I am all but certain Oshawa will launch with the updated HD’s, bit of course GM is not going to announce that and Osborne the current trucks.
Your T1 HD may have been purchased in 2019. but it’s a 2020 model year. In this case, none of the things you mentioned will require extensive re-tooling so it could be easily adapted to work for MY22 and MY23. Whether they start production in Q4 of this year or Q1 of next year there will be retooling required in mid-2022. They already have the shutdown planned and are likely planning to make those changes at that time. So I have to assume that the trucks produced up until July of 2022 will be MY22 and then after July 2022 will be MY2023.
Ya, its possible they launch the current gen at Oshawa, but I do not think so based on what I have heard. Will have to wait and see, also the chip shortage throws all plans out the window as GM is more in survival mode trying to build as many trucks they can with the shortage.
My guess is based on previous generation HD’s is, if gm gives the Silverado and Sierra HD Trucks a mid-cycle refresh, it would more than likely be very mimal, perhaps a “Nose-Job” at best with an increase in HP from the current 6.6; but the competition has become too intense over the last few years with an influx of trucks entering the market, we’ll just have to see how this plays out this time around.
Hopefully the chip shortage is resolved by then
I saw the interview yesterday, with the head guy at the chip plant in Taiwan. I think he mentioned a figure of $30 million to build the new chip factory but remember that is Asia and things are cheaper to build there than here. The cost in North America for a factory would be about 2 to 3 times as much. He said it will be 6 months until a more normal flow of chips, but the demand is going to be very strong for chips for the next two years. His company is building a new factory there to make even more chips. GM probably has first dibs on the new chips just in time for the Oshawa plant to start building the 2022 pre production models in September or October.
You’re off by a b. It’s $30 billion. $30 million buys you a single machine.
“Pickups are GM’s largest and most important market segment in Canada and across the continent,” the automaker said in a statement last year. “They also help GM fund our transition to the electric, autonomous and highly connected future we see ahead.”
I find this bit interesting. Is electric what the largest percentage of customers really want then?
It’s like auto-start-stop or emissions controls. It’s not what customers want, it’s what the government wants.
Where is the “make American cars in America” crowd?
Canadian auto workers are unionized, so the UAW shills can’t say anything since international labor union movement, labor brotherhood, workers of the world unite, etc.
Mexican workers are also unionized…
Mexican unions don’t count because they are ultimately controlled by the government, like the ones in China and in the former Soviet Union.
We are busting our butts to get the place up and running. Its going to be nice to see the old girl back humming again.
Anything new about RCSB hopefully?
That’s great news. Canadian built vehicles seem to have better build quality than American made ones IMO.
My 17 Impala was built at the Oshawa plant, and a friend of mine recently purchased a used low mileage 2019 Impala LT a month ago and I was able to go for a ride with him. His Impala was made at the Hamtramck plant.
I noticed right away there was some quality issues with the interior with certain trim pieces looked off compared to my car, and even the finish of the trim looked more dull and felt less well tightly fitted than my Impala especially on the door panels.
Also I immediately noticed more road noise in the cabin. My Impala is pretty quiet inside, but my friends for whatever reasons it’s like GM cut cost and removed some of the noise insulation. Even in the trunk lid felt lighter and more hollow sounding when tapping it with your finger. The paint had this horrible orange peel that looked very cheap too. The doors felt less heavy as well.
I can go on, but you guys get the point. I personally would rather purchase a Chevy truck built in Canada than here. Canadians work ethics seem to be better than the modern day American worker. Canadians are not as lazy I should say and they care more about the quality of the end product than most American plants workers do.
Way back in the days it was a different story however . GM used to built very high quality cars and trucks in the 50’s-60’s until about the mid 70’s that were tough and durable and well put together here in America.
Quality just slipped for decades only up until recently GM has been building reliable vehicles. But as we always know, GM has never been consistent. They build some wonderful competitive vehicles, and somehow find ways to build absolute cheap garbage that has too many problems. The Impala is one highlight in which GM did a great job with this car.
The Malibu and Cruze on the other are cars that are cheaply put together with uninspiring interiors/exteriors and have engine issues, with plastic fantastic fisher price plastic components everywhere in those cars, especially with the Cruze.
WOULD YOU ALL MIND MOVING ONE OF YOUR GMC- OR SILVERADO PLANTS TO ASIA!!?? WE ARE HANDCUFFED TO THE COLORADO AS THE BIGGEST GM OR CHEVY PICK-UPS!! I KNOW THERE IS A PLANT IN THAILAND BUT THEY DON’T MAKE SIVERADOS EITHER !! THERE ARE 6- 7 MILLION AMERICANS & EUROPEN HERE, THE ONLY ONES DRIVING AROUND HERE WERE BROUGHT HERE WHEN THEY MOVED HERE YEARS AGO!! THE GMC SIERRA & SILVERADO ARE THE BEST PICK-UPS MADE!! RIGHT NOW FORD HAS THE MARKET!! I WILL BUY A TOYOTA B/4 I SPEND ONE DIME ON A FORD!!
My K2 was built there. Seems like a very nice truck so far.
With Trump this never hapen. Less jobs to USA
Thanks boring boring Biden.
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