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GM Oshawa Assembly Retooling Among The Fastest In GM History

By Sam McEachern

January 3, 2022 7:22 am

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The GM Oshawa Assembly plant in Ontario underwent one of the fastest retooling procedures in General Motors history last year to prepare it to produce the 2022 Chevy Silverado HD and refreshed Chevy Silverado 1500.

When GM first began renovation work at Oshawa Assembly in November of 2020, the automaker said it would begin producing trucks at the Canadian facility by January 2022. It later pulled the opening date forward to fourth quarter of this year, putting it “on track to deliver one of the fastest plant launches in GM history,” the automaker said in a press release published last spring.

Speaking to Automotive News last month, GM Canada president Scott Bell reiterated this, saying the GM Oshawa Assembly turnaround was one of the company’s quickest – even despite the hurdles posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. GM’s retooling team is mostly based in the United States and could not enter Canada due to COVID-19 restrictions last year, so the automaker was forced to abandon some of its usual retooling practices to ensure the project remained on schedule.

“We weren’t able to get people across the border, and so the team had to be very nimble and creative,” Bell told the publication.
This quick turnaround is the reason why the GMC Sierra will not be produced at Oshawa. By focusing on production of the Chevy Silverado lineup only, GM was able to quickly get Oshawa back up and running.“When you’re starting a plant and you want to go as fast as we’ve gone, you’ve kind of got to minimize the complexity within the plant and the [product] mix,” Bell told Automotive News.

Oshawa Assembly now has the notable distinction of being the only Canadian auto plant to reopen after being completely shut down. The plant plays an important role for GM, too, giving the automaker additional production capacity for the hugely popular Chevy Silverado at a time when demand for full-size pickups is at an all-time high. Production of the 2022 Chevy Silverado HD began there late last year, with light-duty Chevy Silverado 1500 production set to commence there in the spring. GM expects Oshawa Assembly to employ roughly 1,700 people once it’s up and running at full capacity.
The first Oshawa-built 2022 Chevy Silverado HD models began arriving at dealerships in the United States and Canada in December of 2021.

By Sam McEachern

Sam loves to write and has a passion for auto racing, karting and performance driving of all types.

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Comments

  1. jake

    Compromise isn’t always a bad thing, but it hurts that it was caused by the tiny tyrant Trudeau. Regardless, it’s great to see more HD’s coming about.

    Reply
  2. Kd

    Good for oshawa it again will be the best production facility it has good luck and keep building the best vehicles worldwide.

    Reply
    1. DaveZR2

      I enjoy my 2013 Camaro ZL1 that came from that plant. Glad to see they are open again.

      Reply
  3. John hannah

    Worked there for 27 years great place to work made lots of friends John

    Reply
  4. member12

    Great. Now what is Barra doing to in-screw GM’s supply chain failures, particularly around semiconductors.

    Reply
  5. Ryan Duff

    Glad to see production back in Oshawa. GM made a great discussion to restart. The only truck made in Canada. They will sell lots of trucks.

    Reply
  6. Tim

    Great to see . My 2001 2500 HD Duramax came from there.It was a great truck. Obviously my 2021 AT4 did not come from Oshawa. I will continue to support GM as long as they are US. or Canadian produced. If it is made in Mexico I will look elsewhere.Will probably replace the AT4 with a Chev 1500 when I trade.

    Reply
  7. Wendy

    Does anyone there have any insight as to why the vehicles are being built and then just sit there and not ship out? Have an HD truck, that according to GM chat and the dealership, has been complete for quite some time. But mine and many others are just sitting there in limbo and nobody seems to have answers why.

    Reply

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